Was Never Intentional”: DiJonai Carrington Speaks Out on Sophie Cunningham Foul as Sky Coach Backs Her Amid Debate — Yahoo Sports

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CHICAGO, IL – AUGUST 08: DiJonai Carrington 7 of the Chicago Sky fouls Sophie Cunningham 8 of the Indiana Fever during the first half on August 8, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire WNBA, Basketball Damen, USA AUG 08 Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260808094 ©IMAGO/Icon Sportswire

The controversy around DiJonai Carrington committing a flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham has only grown since the incident occurred on Saturday. Now, Carrington is offering her clearest explanation of the play that resulted in her ejection. Speaking to the media on August 10, the guard explained that she had no malicious intent and was only trying to play hard-nosed defense.

“I’m never gonna let a open layup just be had. You can pull clips from however many seasons of me making that same exact play. It was unfortunate that I made contact with her in the way that I did, but it was never intentional,” Carrington said before her team’s game against the Seattle Storm according to Chicago State of Mind Sports on X .

During Saturday’s game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, Carrington tried to block Cunningham’s layup in the first quarter. While both players were airborne, Carrington swiped her arm to block the layup but instead hit Cunningham’s neck and face and wiped her out. Although the officials initially ruled it as a Flagrant 1, they upgraded to a Flagrant 2 and ejected Carrington.

Sky coach Tyler Marsh also supported his guard and reiterated that Carrington did not intend to hurt Sophie Cunningham.

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“I think the intent was to make an attempt at the ball, and that’s how she plays,” he 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… There’s a lot of vitriol at DiJonai’s expense. There’s a lot that she has to deal with, as well. When we talk about protecting players, it should be every player.”

After the game, Fever coach Stephanie White, who had previously coached Carrington in 2023 and 2024 as the head of the Connecticut Sun, came to her defense. Connecticut was where Carrington broke out as the Most Improved Player and made the All-Defensive First Team in 2024.

“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,” White said during the post-game presser.

Meanwhile, DiJonai Carrington is already looking forward to rematching the Fever after spending most of Saturday’s game on the sidelines. After the game, she posted “8/23” with a smiling emoji on X, which is the date when the rivals will run it back.

Whether fans accept Carrington’s explanation remains to be seen, but for now, her position is clear: the foul was unfortunate, but not intentional.