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DiJonai Carrington’s swipe that hit Caitlin Clark in the eye in Game 1 of the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun series continues to reverberate. The play happened with 8:36 remaining in the first quarter before it quickly created a social media storm. Many who saw the viral replays concluded that the Sun guard deliberately hit the Fever rookie.
After the game, Clark faced the media with a slight bruise under her eye but shrugged off the incident. The 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year thought the hit was a non-factor in her shooting struggles.
On Tuesday, USA Today columnist Christine Brennan asked DiJonai Carrington about the incident. How the best-selling author phrased her questions forced some sections of the WNBA and NBA community to push back at Brennan.
Here’s the dialogue between the reporter and Connecticut player:
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“Brennan: When you kind of swatted at Caitlin [Clark], did you intend to hit her in the eye, and if you could you just describe, or if not, either way, could you talk about what happened on that play?
“Carrington: I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye, that doesn’t even make sense to me. No, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her, actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball, I followed through and I hit her. It’s never intentional.”
The ABC News commentator continued to press Carrington:
“Brennan: Did you and Marina [Mabrey] kind of laugh about it afterwards? It looked like later in the game that caught you guys laughing about it?
“Carrington: I just told you I didn’t even know I hit her. I can’t laugh about something I didn’t know happened.”
New York Knicks star Josh Hart didn’t hold back in his criticism of Christine Brennan:
“They need to start taking media credentials away for stupid questions like this”
A fan added:
“Between this and the @LATimes headline, which was a very misleading characterization, is why our discourse is so bad. Journalism is not supposed to be this way. At this moment, we have to be better stewards.”
Fans online critiqued what they felt was impartial reporting by Christine Brennan. What the columnist thought about Carrington’s eye-poke on Caitlin Clark was immaterial. She had the platform to let the Connecticut player explain her side of the story but her questioning already imposed a guilty verdict on Carrington.
NBA/WNBA fans tossed in their thoughts as well:
“You [Brennan] should be ashamed and removed from being able to ask players anything else ever again.”
Another fan commented:
“Why would you ask this? What on earth is wrong with people insinuating these things to fit a harmful narrative”
Christine Brennan allegedly misinterpreted the DiJonai Carrington and Marina Mabrey celebration
The celebration DiJonai Carrington had with Marina Mabrey happened in the fourth quarter, way past the Caitlin Clark incident. Carrington hit a triple to pad Connecticut’s lead to 89-67 with 1:38 left in the game. The shot forced the Indiana Fever to call a timeout, giving the Sun players time to celebrate.
Mabrey excitedly went to Carrington to bust out the gesture NBA legend Carmelo Anthony made his trademark.
Former Stanford Cardinal women's basketball star Val Whiting showed a clip of Anthony’s move with the caption:
“How dare you? Why would you insinuate that they were laughing about it bc of social media clips from Caitlin Clark stans? How can you be a sports reporter and not know the three to the dome celebration? You’re disgusting and people like you should not be allowed to report.”
Caitlin Clark already claimed DiJonai Carrington’s eye poke wasn’t deliberate
Caitlin Clark had already talked to reporters about the incident involving DiJonai Carrington. The Fever All-Star laughed off the popular belief that Carrington deliberately hit her. Clark even said to look at the play as there was no way that it was intentional.
Whether Christine Brennan had ill intent behind her interview with DiJonai Carrington remains unclear. But because of the way she framed her questions, it's understandable why some sections of the NBA/WNBA community ripped her on social media.
