Bobby Burack: The WNBA ought to suspend Dijonai Carrington for allegedly purposefully poking Caitlin Clark in the eye.
No player was fouled more in the WNBA this season than Caitlin Clark.
Tellingly, the women who most commonly resorted to dirty non-basketball plays while defending Clark were also her most notable detractors, like Angel Reese and Chennedy Carter And Dijonai Carrington.
On Sunday, Carrington jammed her finger into Clark’s eye during Game 1 of the Sun-Fever playoff series. Clark ended up with a black eye. Somehow, the refs did not call a foul on the play.
However, upon closer inspection, it seems rather obvious that Carrington did not accidentally jab Clark in the eye. Carrington appears to have poked Clark in the eye with her nail, as seen from a few different perspectives.
You’ll also see that Carrington neglected to follow up with Clark.
Video evidence suggests Dijonai Carrington may have intentionally hit Caitlin Clark early in the first quarter of the Sun v. Fever playoff game, resulting in a black eye. No foul was called. The WNBA needs to investigate immediately.
Any dispute?
Carrington is another one of the several women in and around the WNBA who has made herself semi-famous for resenting Clark and her popularity.
“the indiana fever have the nastiest fans in the W,” Carrington said on X in August.
In June, Carrington fouled Clark on the court and immediately mocked her as a “flopper.” She then posted a troubled rant on X in which she accused Clark’s fans of racism.
“But I’m a racist, jealous, coon, monkey, Carrington wrote, while referencing Clark nudging a player on the Washington Mystics.
A week prior, a reporter from The Athletic tried to pressure Clark to condemn the criticism Chennedy Carter faced after charging at Clark, shoving her to the ground, calling her a “bitch,” and liking tweets calling upon her to injure Clark.
Essentially, the reporter asked Clark to stick up for a player who was targeting her, blaming the criticism of Carter on racism and the “culture war.”
“It’s not something I can control, so I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that; and, to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it. Like I’ve said, basketball is my job,” Clark responded.
In what world should you have the back of a player who appears to be trying to injure you? We aren’t sure, but apparently, Carrington lives in that world.
That night, Carrington called out Clark for not defending the black women targeting her on the court.
“Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts,” said Carrington on X. “We all see the sh*t. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.”
Clearly, Carrington bought into the false but media-generated narrative that white privilege is at the root of Clark’s popularity. She does not like or respect Clark. Carrington, based on her social media posts, is also angry at white people in general.
Now, several videos have emerged in which Carrington appears to me to seemingly poke her nail into Clark’s eye on purpose – a gesture both dangerous and prohibited on the basketball court.
The jealousy and bitterness that several black women in the league have toward Clark is real. There are now several examples of those very women letting their disdain for Clark lead to dangerous plays on the court.
The league could put a stop to it by holding the women accountable. And it should. The WNBA should suspend Dijonai Carrington But, of course, that won’t happen.
The WNBA wouldn’t dare punish any angry black woman for targeting a white woman embroiled in – to no fault of her own – the most prolific race war in sports today.
In fact, the league is openly trying to downplay the Clark phenomenon simply to separate itself from the narrative of a little white girl from Iowa transcending a majority black league into mainstream popularity.
Expect the on-court targeting of Clark to continue. Why wouldn’t it? Cheap-shotting Clark is hardly called a foul at this point. And ESPN and Black Twitter will love you for it.
Ultimately, Caitlin Clark is the best thing that has ever happened to the WNBA. The league has never been more popular.
But in a society where young black Americans are groomed to view the success of white people through the lens of privilege and oppression, Clark’s accession is met with fierce resentment – like a mean girl’s nail to the eye.
