Stephanie White’s latest comments have landed her in hot water. While trying to separate intent from a hard foul on her guard, Sophie Cunningham, the Indiana Fever head coach offered a defense for Chicago Sky’s DiJonai Carrington. However, that post-game statement didn’t land with Indiana’s Lieutenant Governor.
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“Ok… The @IndianaFever need to let Stephanie White go. No solid coach would ever take the side of the opposing team’s player who committed a flagrant foul on one of your own players. Terrible coaching! The Fever need to defend their players.” Indiana Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith said in a post on X responding to White’s comments defending DiJonai Carrington.
During the Fever’s 90-86 win over the Chicago Sky, Carrington attempted to chase down and block Sophie Cunningham on a fast break, instead making heavy contact with her face and neck. Although Cunningham made the layup, Carrington sent her tumbling to the floor, leading to a verbal exchange, and the official had to step in.
After being initially ruled a Flagrant 1, it was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 upon review, leading to Carrington getting ejected from the game. After the game, White highlighted that though the play was physical, she didn’t think the Sky guard was trying to hurt Cunningham.
“One of the things about Nai is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man. She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so I don’t oppose the hard foul. But I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
Tyler Marsh, the Sky’s head coach, shared Stephanie White’s view that the move was not meant to harm Cunningham, and was just a basketball play gone wrong.
“In the moment, I thought that she made a play on the ball. I didn’t think it warranted a flagrant two… I haven’t looked at that play since, so I really don’t know if it was justified or not. But that’s what I thought in the moment.”
Perhaps White came to Carrington’s defense because she’s more familiar with the guard than most. Stephanie White’s connection with DiJonai Carrington goes back to 2023 and 2024, when she was the Connecticut Sun head coach and used Carrington as one of her main backcourt options.
Carrington started all 39 of her games in the 2024 season, which became her breakout season, and she earned the Most Improved Player award, landed on the All-Defensive First Team, and finished fourth in DPOY voting.
Unfortunately for Carrington, not everyone on the opposing team saw her actions the same way her former coach did. Sophie Cunningham was harshly critical of the guard’s actions, insisting that the move was intentional and meant to grab attention.
“Clearly, I think it was unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff. So get your s— off. That’s fine. I can take it,” Cunningham told the media as per ESPN.
Regardless of whether Beckwith’s comments gain any traction, it’s clear that the teams and the players would like to put the incident behind them.