DiJonai Carrington’s early exit from the Chicago Sky’s 86-90 loss to the Indiana Fever was already the most talked-about event of the night. Now, a new detail from the heated altercation between her and Sophie Cunningham has surfaced.
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Carrington was ejected with two minutes remaining in the first quarter of the game after starting hot when officials upgraded her foul on Cunningham to a Flagrant 2. However, before the officials made their call, multiple cameras saw the two jawing at each other.
A fan @ChiStateOfMind_, who seemingly read Carrington’s lips, claims that the Sky player told Cunningham, “Try me,” before the altercation was broken up.
The ignitor for the conflict between them was when Carrington, who tried to block Cunningham on a fast-break sequence, ended up making hard contact with her face and neck area, causing her to crash to the ground. Cunningham got back up immediately, getting ready to defend herself before being pulled away by teammate Makayla Timpson and a member of security.
Initially, Carrington was assessed a Flagrant 1, but following a review, it was upgraded to a Flagrant 2, immediately ejecting her from the game. The ejection itself came at an unfortunate time for her.
Carrington had started the game blistering hot, scoring eight points in four minutes off the bench while hitting all three of her shots, including a three-pointer.
Her disbelief after the ejection was clear on the broadcast, with the Sky guard standing near her bench mouth agape in shock when the final review decision was announced by the refs. For Carrington, however, it did not end there.
A little while after leaving for the locker room, she posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on Instagram Threads while tagging the Indiana Fever, with no other explanation, but given the timing, it clearly references her incident with Cunningham.
Carrington’s coach, Tyler Marsh, backed up his guard, telling reporters after the game that he did not think that the play warranted a Flagrant 2 and that Carrington was just making a play on the ball. He also said that he had not reviewed the sequence and credited the officials for making the decision.
Interestingly, the Indiana Fever head coach, Stephanie White, seemingly agreed with Marsh on one key point: Carrington had not fouled Cunningham on purpose.
“It was a hard foul,” White said after the game, as reported by the Associated Press. “I don’t think that DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen, and I thought it was the right call.”
For now, the official record on the matter is clear: Chicago lost by four points, and DiJonai Carrington’s hot start could’ve made a big difference for the team.