Sophie Cunningham Calls Foul Intentional as Fever Coach Defends DiJonai Carrington
Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham has spoken out after Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington struck her during a game. The foul ended with Carrington’s ejection, but the controversy continued after the final whistle.
During the first quarter, Cunningham raced down the court for a breakaway layup. Carrington chased her from behind and hit Cunningham across the face and neck area. Cunningham still managed to make the basket before falling to the floor.
Officials initially assessed a Flagrant One foul. After reviewing the play, they upgraded it to a Flagrant Two and ejected Carrington from the game.
After leaving the court, Carrington posted on social media and claimed that “white privilege” was the real reason she had been ejected.
Cunningham rejected that explanation. She said the contact was unnecessary and intentional, while also saying she had no personal history with Carrington.
“Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff,” Cunningham stated per ESPN’s Kareem Copeland. “So get your sh*t off. That’s fine. I can take it.”
She added, “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.”
Cunningham also suggested that the national attention surrounding the Fever may have played a role in the incident.
“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,” she said. “And that’s her just trying to get attention.”
The dispute took another turn when Fever coach Stephanie White discussed the foul. Rather than calling it an intentional attempt to hit Cunningham in the neck, White described it as a hard foul and praised Carrington’s aggressive style of play.
“Yeah, I mean, look, it was a hard foul,” White said. “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,” she added. “But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man.”
White continued, “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.”
The contrasting reactions quickly drew political attention in Indiana. Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith called for White to be fired, arguing that the Fever should stand behind their own player after a flagrant foul by an opponent.
Beckwith posted his criticism online:
Sophie Cunningham on the whole incident with DiJonai Carrington:
"Clearly, I think it was like 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."
"Yeah, it's…— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) August 8, 2026
A separate post criticized White for defending Carrington and pointed to television commentators who described the play as an intentional Flagrant Two.
Look at @StephanieWhite completely go out of her way to defend DiJonai Carrington after she clotheslined Sophie during that layup.
Even the ABC commentators said it was clearly an intentional Flagrant 2. But Steph is defending the DiJonai because she taught her and AT to do this pic.twitter.com/nxH05NlpVg
— #Caitlin4MVP (@WNBA_Analyst) August 9, 2026
Beckwith later made his demand for White’s firing directly, saying the Fever need to defend their players.
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. https://t.co/JCHkQKv4un
— TheMicahBeckwith (@MicahBeckwith) August 9, 2026