Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington has circled Aug. 23 on her calendar, marking the date for the next meeting between her team and the Indiana Fever. This comes after Carrington was ejected from Saturday's game for a flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham, an incident that subsequently led to a social media post by Carrington stating “WHITE PRIVILEGE.”
Carrington expressed her anticipation for the rematch by posting “8/23” with a smiling emoji on X, formerly Twitter.
The foul occurred with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter when Carrington fouled Cunningham from behind as Cunningham attempted a layup. Cunningham then rose and shoved Carrington, prompting Fever teammate Makayla Timpson to intervene. Initially assessed as a shooting foul, the referees upgraded it to a flagrant 2 foul after review, deeming it "unnecessary" and "excessive" per WNBA rules, resulting in Carrington's ejection. At the time of the foul, Carrington had scored eight points in four minutes. The Fever went on to win the game 90-86.
Following the game, the controversy extended beyond the court. Carrington shared her "white privilege" post on Threads, while Cunningham told reporters that the incident had "nothing to do with race." Cunningham recalled a similar foul from the previous year, stating, "Last year, I did the same thing, and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason even to play that card."
Cunningham added that she did not have any "beef" with Carrington, who was playing in her fifth game of the season after recovering from a foot injury. Cunningham suggested that Carrington might have "some pent-up stuff."
Fever head coach Stephanie White characterized the foul as "hard." She added, "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."
The incident also occurs against a backdrop of recent WNBA discussions surrounding comments made by Cunningham in a July ESPN article about transgender athletes in women's sports. According to a memo obtained by the Associated Press, a previously scheduled task force will address this topic next week.