Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington spoke to the media Monday for the first time since she was ejected from the team’s loss to the Indiana Fever on Saturday for a Flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham. Prior to the Sky’s game against the Seattle Storm, Carrington told reporters the foul was “never intentional” and declined to elaborate on her social media comments about “white privilege.” 

In the first quarter of the Sky’s 90-86 defeat to the Fever, Carrington attempted to chase down Cunningham in transition. As Cunningham went up for a layup, Carrington tried to block her shot but instead hit Cunningham in the side of the head. Cunningham immediately popped up and got in Carrington’s face, but was pulled away by teammates and security before anything escalated. 

After a review, the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 and Carrington was ejected. 

Carrington says foul was ‘never intentional’

In the moment, Carrington seemed surprised that she was ejected. On Monday, she explained that she was only trying to make a defensive play, and that it was “unfortunate” how she hit Cunningham. 

Here is Carrington’s full comment:

“It’s just who I am. I’m never going to just let an open layup be had. You can pull clips from I don’t know however many seasons of me making that exact play. Obviously I’m just coming back from injury so manybe my timing or my lift wasn’t where it needs to get to but I mean it was unfortunate I made contact with her in the way that I did, but it was never intentional. 

“Look, it might happen again. That’s just how I play. I’m always going to go all out and try to get a stop. I’m not just going to let an open layup happen. But like I said, I’m never intending to hurt somebody regardless of any outside noise or whatever the situation may be.”

Sky coach Tyler Marsh also defended Carrington during shootaround. 

“I think the intent was to make an attempt at the ball, and that’s how she plays,” Marsh said. “That’s who she is. She’s passionate, hard-nosed, and it’s unfortunate that’s what happened. I don’t think that’s what her intent was.”

Sky’s DiJonai Carrington ejected after hard foul to face of Fever’s Sophie Cunningham

Isabel Gonzalez

Carrington says she talked to league about ‘white privilege’ comment

Immediately after she was ejected, Carrington took to social media in the locker room. She wrote “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” in a now-deleted post. She also posted “8/23” with a smiley face emoji — an apparent reference to the next game between the Sky and Fever on Aug. 23 in Chicago. 

Prior to speaking to the media on Monday, Carrington attempted to clarify her “white privilege” comment on social media in response to former NFL player Emmanuel Acho. 

“I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege (that was your assumption). Try exercising your critical thinking skills, I know you studied psych. Furthermore, I’m the LAST thing from ignorant or asinine when it comes to speaking on “white privilege”, do ya research on that one,” Carrington wrote. “I actually went to school, one of the top universities might I add, to educate myself on this exact subject. I would never use that term as a rhetorical weapon knowing the historical and social weight it holds without having the proper evidence to substantiate it.”

When asked by reporters in Seattle pre-game what she meant by “white privilege,” Carrington declined to elaborate. 

“I’ve already spoken to the people who have the potential to have the agency to make the change that I’m hoping comes about not just from this incident but ones in the past and ones that are obviously going to be coming up in the near future probably as well,” Carrington said. 

Asked in a follow-up if she could share anything about her conversations with the league, she said “no” because she “already talked to the league and I guess the quote-unquote higher-ups.” 

Carrington wants ‘consistency across the board’

After Cunningham got to her feet, she stretched her arm out toward Carrington as she was being pulled away by Makayla Timpson. Cunningham made light contact with Carrington, but there was no force behind it and she was not penalized in any way. When Carrington was asked if she thought Cunningham should have received a technical foul, she pointed to a need for “consistency across the board.”

Here are Carrington’s full comments:

“I would say that I would just love consistency across the board when it comes to things like that. Whether it’s the foul that I committed, whether it’s the reaction, the retaliation, I would just love it to be consistent across the board regardless of the name on your jersey or your skin color or the score of the game, the stakes, whatever. I would love there to just be consistency when it comes to all of that. I don’t think we’re there yet. That’s something that I’ve talked to the league about as well. I think that will eliminate a lot of the frustrations that we all have.”

Carrington also said she was not encouraged by her discussions with the league over the matter. 

“No, I don’t feel encouraged. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop fighting for what I believe is right, and that’s consistency,” Carrington said. “I think everyone would benefit from that. We’re all here to play our hardest and win games. There is never mal-intent with any of these things. So I think it would be fair to be consistent across the board when it comes to things like that.”

What has Cunningham said?

Cunningham, who has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks over her comments about transgender athletes, said after Saturday’s game that the foul was “unnecessary” and that Carrington was “just trying to get 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 shit off. That’s fine. I can take it,” Cunningham said. 

“Yeah, it’s intentional. She wasn’t even on the team. She has no reason to be doing any of that. So, good way to get her kicked out. I don’t even know her. She wasn’t even on the team last year when all that was going on. But I do think when people play the Fever, we’re nationally televised, there’s a lot of eyes on us and people just want attention. And that’s her just trying to get attention.”

“I wasn’t even upset. I mean, I popped up. I’m not going to let anyone just do that to me,” Cunningham continued. “I think everyone knows that. I think that’s why she did it because she wants attention. I mean, shit, like, people have started craving attention. Like, go get it somewhere else. Go do something good in the world, I don’t know.”