DiJonai Carrington has established herself as one of the best defenders in the WNBA. However, her defensive numbers are not easily measured by conventional stats like blocks and steals. To flex her lockdown defense, Carrington took to social media to share her record.
The Sun player reposted an ESPNW post on her Instagram story, that showed her success in guarding some of the WNBA's top players. The stats showed that she had held stars like Caitlin Clark and Arike Ogunbowale to poor shooting when she was the closest defender.
On May 14, Carrington held Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark to 2-of-9 shooting. Just three days later, Ariel Atkins missed all her seven shots with Carrington as the closest defender. The Sun player held Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper to 0-of-3 on May 28.
Last month, DiJonai Carrington held Ogunbowale, Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd to a combined 3-of-17 shooting from the field. She held Ogunbowale to 2-of-9, Gray to 0-of-3 and Seattle Storm star Loyd to a 1-of-5 shooting.
DiJonai Carrington has been consistent with her defense throughout the season. In the past few weeks, she has also found her rhythm on offense. This season, Carrington is averaging 12.9 points on 39.9% shooting from the field. She is also averaging 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
DiJonai Carrington calls out fans for double standards after Caitlin Clark's flagrant foul
The Sun guard blasted fans for double standards after watching Clark push away Washington Mystics guard Julie Vanloo and accidentally hit her in the eye. In her post on X, (formerly Twitter), Carrington called out fans for being racist when she faced criticism for similar actions.
"But I’m a racist, jealous, coon, monkey, hatin a** b**** who needs to go back to Africa when I do it huh?😂😂😂😂😂 plssss. Like I said, this is basketball."
When a fan alleged that DiJonai Carrington was watching Caitlin Clark highlights while still in her uniform, the Sun star replied that her girlfriend NaLyssa Smith was on the same team as Clark, so she was catching up on the game.
She also added that her comments were not against Clark, but were calling out the double standards of some fans. Caitlin Clark was given a Flagrant 1 foul after the play.