DiJonai Carrington's feud with Sophie Cunningham explodes: Unearthed footage of foul-mouthed rant... as details of turbulent past are revealed

DiJonai Carrington is back in the spotlight after a furious bust-up with Sophie Cunningham on Saturday.

Indiana Fever's Cunningham, who is white, was shooting a layup in the first quarter of the game when Chicago Sky's Carrington, who is black, came from behind and hit her in the head and neck, knocking her to the court as the shot went in.

The Sky star was assessed a flagrant 2 and ejected from the game, with both Cunningham and her teammate Caitlin Clark seen waving as Carrington headed to the locker room.

Cameras also caught Cunningham, 29, smiling and clapping at the officials' decision after footage from moments earlier appeared to show Cunningham call her rival a 'dumb a** b****' and shouting: 'Why the f*** would you do that?'

Following her ejection, Carrington posted on social media from inside the locker room. 'WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever,' she wrote.

But it would not be the first time that Carrington, 28, has been embroiled in a controversy involving one of the league's biggest stars.

Back in September 2024, while playing for the Connecticut Sun, Carrington left Clark, 24, with a black eye after poking the Fever guard in the face during her rookie season that was plagued by rough treatment from her opponents.

One month after that incident, Carrington mocked Clark by recreating the poke during an Instagram livestream with her ex-girlfriend and fellow WNBA player NaLyssa Smith.

Smith looked to deliberately catch Carrington's eye in the video before she said, 'You poked me in the eye' with a smile on her face. The pair then began laughing as Carrington asked, 'Did you do it on purpose?' – an apparent dig at USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, who had asked if she poked Clark intentionally.

'I don't even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye,' Carrington responded to Brennan when asked if it was intentional during the interview.

'That doesn't even make sense to me. But no, I didn't. I didn't know I hit her, actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball, and I guess I followed through and I hit her. 

'Obviously it's never intentional. That's not even the type of player that I am.'

The question from Brennan sparked backlash from the WNBA Players' Association, who released an extraordinary statement saying that her question to Carrington was 'a blatant attempt to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is false and designed to fuel racist, homophobic and misogynistic vitriol on social media.'

USA Today defended Brennan, responding with their own statement that said: 'We reject the notion that the interview perpetuated any narrative other than to get the player's perspective directly.

'Christine Brennan is well regarded as an advocate for women and athletes but first and foremost, she's a journalist.'

Then, in June of this year Clark was caught on camera gossiping with Cunningham about a WNBA rival who 'hates' her during a Fever win over the Dallas Wings.

Footage captured by ION showed Cunningham whispering into the ear of Clark while they were sat on the bench together in Dallas. It was unclear what the Fever guard initially said given her superstar teammate was covering her mouth with a towel. However, Clark seemingly responded to Cunningham by saying: 'Yep, I know... she hates me.' 

Fans quickly began to speculate about who the Indiana sensation could have been talking about - if those comments were interpreted accurately - and many thought it could be Carrington.

Carrington was previously forced to address claims that she plays 'dirty' on social media back in June 2025. At the time, she received a flagrant-1 foul after making excessive contact with Skylar Diggins of the Seattle Storm. 

A week before that incident, Carrington had screamed in the face of a referee, who pulled a security guard in between the two, a move the guard said was a 'microaggression.' A hard foul against the Minnesota Lynx also took place a month earlier. 

'Yall fans swear I'm such a dirty player,' Carrington posted. 'I'm SO over this narrative bc if u really know bball, u know I jus play hard asf & never give up on a play. & yup, we challenged the last couple flagrants & got em rescinded bc I'm ALWAYS tryna make a play on the ball nun more, nun less.' 

But Carrington has not just sparked outrage on the court. In January 2025, she wore a 'f*** Donald Trump' hoodie to an Unrivaled basketball game and shared the pictures on her X account with the caption: 'What my hoodie says.'

The sweatshirt was a piece of merch from the rapper YG, who in 2016 played shows all across the United States on a tour called 'F*** Donald Trump.' 

Carrington was met with more criticism than support in response to her post, with people mocking her and saying the post was attention-seeking.

Days later, she blasted Trump again and called on the WNBA to 'take action' against some of the president's more divisive policies that he implemented upon starting his second term in the White House.

She said: 'We see that some of the policies are already going into action, and, of course, that means that as the WNBA and being at the forefront of a lot of these movements, it's time for us to also take action. 

'It definitely needs to happen as women, women's rights being taken away, like, now, LGBTQ rights being taken away now. They haven't happened yet, but definitely in the works.'  

Then, more off-court drama followed last month, when Carrington accused ex-girlfriend Smith of cheating on her with two other players in the WNBA.

Carrington and NaLyssa Smith, 26, began dating in 2020 while they were both members of the women's basketball team at Baylor University. The two continued to date while they played on different WNBA teams before briefly playing together on the Wings last season.

When Carrington announced their split in November 2025, there was no indication of bad blood between them. 'We're good but we're not together any more,' she said at the time. 'It was on good terms. We just grew in different directions.'

But then, on July 27, Carrington alleged Smith's infidelity in a post on Threads.

'Since mfs wanna be funny today ima be hilarious!' Carrington posted. 'yes , nalyssa cheated on me with Deja Kelly and Aaliyah Nye +++ many more.' 

Smith responded to Carrington in a Twitch video in the days after, hitting back at her ex for going public with the claims after believing they had moved on.

'Whether she cheated on me and I cheated on her, why are we bringing that to the internet a year later when nobody did anything to anybody?' Smith said. 'Whether she cheated on me or I cheated on her, that has nothing to do with anybody. Like what? That don't even make sense.'

Carrington has been rumored to now be dating Smith's teammate on the Las Vegas Aces, Jackie Young. While it has not been publicly confirmed, Smith appeared to reference that Carrington was in a new relationship while criticizing her for name-dropping Kelly and Nye.

'Then, to bring up folks name that has nothing to do with anything. These folks is minding their business,' Smith said. 'That's ridiculous, especially when you're in a happy, healthy relationship. 

'I would never in my life do that to nobody if I was in a happy, healthy relationship. These folks woke up to this s*** on a random Sunday... I think that's very weird.'

It's unclear what prompted Carrington to make her post but Smith implied it was from an encounter during the WNBA's All-Star game held in Chicago days prior.

'I'm saying I'm the victim in that situation for sure. I didn't do nothing. I didn't bother nobody,' she said.

'We came to the spot. Folks was chilling. Nobody did nothing to nobody. I didn't go out of my way to bother anybody or come to somewhere uninvited. But I guess the liquor, the cameras, her crowd, I guess she got some type of... somebody boosted her up to gain some confidence.'

Meanwhile, Kelly, 24, and Nye, 23, have not responded to the claims. 

They both entered the league last season. Nye was drafted 13th overall in the second round out of Alabama while Kelly went undrafted out of Oregon. Both players signed contracts with the Las Vegas Aces in 2025. Nye now plays for Atlanta Dream while Kelly plays for Charlotte Crown in the UpShot League.

That brings us to Saturday's ordeal with Cunningham - who has been at the center of a culture war in recent weeks following comments she made about transgender athletes.

In the wake of the incident on the court this weekend, Barstool chief Dave Portnoy, a dedicated Clark fan, posted a clip of Carrington ranting at a taxi driver with the caption: 'Lets not forget the time DiJonai went on a ... racist rant against a cab driver. When people show you who they are believe them.'

During the Instagram livestream from December 2024, Chicago Sky star Carrington alleged that her and her friends, who were out celebrating a birthday, were kicked out of their taxi, seemingly for trying to play their music.

'This stuff is crazy and I had to really expose him [the driver] in real time,' she can be seen saying to the camera.

'I don't know why white people think they can get away with trying to just scare black people by saying, "Oh, I'm gonna call the police." Ok, and we did nothing wrong, so that's fine. Go ahead and call the police.

'There he is ladies and gentlemen. Live and in the flesh for you to see. He tried to kidnap us and take us.

'Look, now he's going to talk to our next Uber driver. Let's see how this goes.' 

Carrington and her friends ordered another rideshare to pick them up and, when he arrived, the other driver was filmed walking over to tell him something.

'He just said something in another language to the next driver. What did he say?' Carrington asked.

When Carrington got in the vehicle, she realized the second driver was actually a Spanish speaker, not Arabic. She then yelled at the first taxi driver: 'Dummy, he don't even speak that language. He speaks Spanish.

'He's a dumba** because our new driver speaks Spanish. This motherf***er was trying to speak Arabic. Arabic and Spanish do not sound the same.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Carrington's representatives for comment. 

After the chaotic scenes on the court on Saturday, Cunningham slammed Carrington for 'playing' the race 'card' after her claims her rival benefited from 'white privilege.'

'I think the league is taking care of that. This has nothing to do with race,' Cunningham told ESPN. '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.'

On the incident, Cunningham added: '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 s*** off. That's fine. I can take it.'

Cunningham suggested Carrington was simply 'craving' attention. '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,' she continued.

'I don't even know her. She wasn't even on the team last year when all that was going on... 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 added: 'I wasn't even upset... I popped up. I'm not going to let anyone just do that to me. I think everyone knows that. I think that's why she did it because she wants attention. 

'I mean, s***, people have started craving attention. Like, go get it somewhere else. Go do something good in the world.'