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DiJonai Carrington Incredulous at Notion She Poked Caitlin Clark's Eye on Purpose

Sun guard DiJonai Carrington addressed claims that she poked Caitlin Clark's eye intentionally during Sunday's WNBA playoffs game.

Grant Young

Jun 10, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) moves the ball against Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (21) in the first quarter at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Jun 10, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) moves the ball against Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (21) in the first quarter at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever suffered a tough defeat to the Connecticut Sun in their first WNBA playoff game since 2016 on Sunday.

Not only was the 93-69 loss tough in and of itself, but Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark had to show toughness after getting poked in the eye by Sun guard DiJonai Carrington at one point in the first quarter, which caused her to sport a black eye for the game's remainder.

The eye poke happened while Clark was making a pass to teammate Aliyah Boston. And because it occurred so quickly, the referees didn't call a foul.

After an alternate view of the eye poke went viral on X after the game ended, some fans were claiming that Carrington's poke was intentional.

This caused enough of a stir that a reporter decided to ask Carrington about the intent behind her eye poke on Clark during a media availability session on Tuesday; which Carrington responded to with a clear message.

“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye. It doesn’t even make sense to me," Carrington said of the play, per Matthew Byrne.

"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. So obviously, it's never intentional. That's not even the type of player that I am. So yeah," Carrington continued.

For the record, Caitlin Clark also shared the same sentiment during Indiana's practice, noting, "It wasn't intentional by any means."

That's that.

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Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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