WNBA star DiJonai Carrington is denying that her flagrant foul on Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham was intentional, a claim that would require everyone on the planet to struggle with vision and hearing and be unable to access instant replay in order to believe.
Carrington, of course, is the Chicago Sky player who clotheslined Cunningham so violently that former NBA legend Bill Laimbeer might have winced. The hard contact, which resulted in Carrington’s ejection from the game, left Cunningham bloodied after her opponent's arm struck her in the head and neck area during a fast-break layup attempt.
Let's not pretend DiJonai lacked motive for the borderline assault as well. Sophie was getting a ton of press for being Caitlin Clark's "enforcer" and had stirred up emotions in the LGBT-centric league by suggesting men don't belong in female locker rooms. Cunningham was getting the attention, and Carrington essentially said, 'Watch this.'
Speaking to reporters days later, Carrington described the play as unfortunate and insisted she never meant to hurt anyone. Tucked within her comments was a thinly veiled threat.
‘‘It was unfortunate that I made contact with her in the way that I did, but it was never intentional,’’ she said. ‘‘And, look, it might happen again. That’s just how I play. I’m gonna always go all out. I’m not gonna just let an open layup happen. But, like I said, I’m never intending to hurt anybody, regardless of the outside noise or whatever the situation may be.’’
Catch that? It might happen again.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Carrington is very openly threatening to hurt Cunningham again should the opportunity present itself.
Shortly after the original game and her ejection, Carrington posted the date of the next Fever-Sky game on August 23rd, signaling her obsession with Sophie was far from over. It also shows she'll be looking to make another statement in that very specific game.
Not only is she blatantly making threats against Cunningham, but she is also preemptively trying to blunt any backlash or punishment by suggesting the person she has attacked, and may attack in the future, is the beneficiary of "white privilege."
‘‘I would just love consistency across the board when it comes to things like that,’’ Carrington continued in her comments. ‘‘Whether it’s the foul that I commit, whether it’s the reaction or retaliation, I would just love for it to be consistent across the board, regardless of the name on your jersey or your skin color or the score of the game, whatever."
Not sure where she's going with this alternate version of reality. My best guess is the incident involving Sophie intentionally fouling Jacy Sheldon last season. Sheldon was with the Connecticut Sun at the time. But if Carrington is crying about unequal treatment in that case, the facts undercut her completely. Cunningham received the exact same penalty Carrington did: a Flagrant 2 foul, an ejection from the game, and a fine.
And, since the media is doing their best to run cover for DiJonai, it would behoove them to remember that Cunningham at least had the excuse that she was protecting her teammate in Clark, who Sheldon had blasted in the eye earlier in that game. If Carrington thinks certain players are getting unfair treatment, they might want to review all the physical punishment Clark has absorbed in her short time in the league.
Give me a break.
If anything, DiJonai being allowed to continue playing without a suspension and the WNBA refusing to denounce her incendiary rhetoric is proof that the privilege is all hers.
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