Florida attorney general says he would have charged WNBA’s Carrington for assault, battery
The flagrant foul came weeks after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham publicly opposed allowing men to compete in women’s sports, a stance that made her the target of protests and criticism from pro-LGBT figures.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, said he would have charged Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington with assault and battery after Carrington struck Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham across the face and neck during an Aug. 8 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) game.
The foul came amid intense controversy surrounding Cunningham after she publicly opposed allowing men to compete in women’s sports in July. Her comments to ESPN drew opposition from left-wing groups and pro-LGBT figures and elicited praise from Vice President JD Vance and women’s sports advocates, who thanked her for defending female athletes, as Zeale News previously reported.
“The WNBA knows better than to play games down here in Florida because I’ll be charging people with assault,” Uthmeier wrote on X, later clarifying that he meant “assault and battery.”
The incident occurred late in the first quarter of the Fever’s 90-86 win over the Sky in Chicago. Cunningham was attempting a breakaway layup when Carrington chased her down and swung her left arm across Cunningham’s face and neck, knocking her to the floor.
Officials originally called Carrington’s play a Flagrant 1 foul but upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 after a video review, automatically ejecting her from the game. The WNBA also fined her $1,000 for the foul.
Minutes after her ejection, Carrington posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on Threads and tagged the Indiana Fever. She later deleted the post and declined to speak with reporters after the game.
Cunningham described the contact as unnecessary but said she had no previous dispute with Carrington.
“I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff,” Cunningham said after the game, according to ESPN.
Cunningham also rejected Carrington’s apparent suggestion that race influenced the ejection.
“This has nothing to do with race,” she said, according to 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.”
The dispute comes amid a rapidly escalating debate inside the WNBA over whether male athletes should be eligible to compete in the league. As Zeale News previously reported, former National Basketball Association (NBA) center Enes Kanter Freedom declared himself a prospect for the 2027 WNBA Draft on Aug. 7, saying that if “simply declaring who you are is all that’s required” to enter the draft, then he meets “every single requirement.”
Former NBA player Royce White similarly announced hours later that he intended to enter the draft, saying he identifies as a woman for the purpose of playing professional basketball.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in an Aug. 7 memo cited by AP News that a task force of team presidents and general managers would review eligibility policies regarding “transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball.” Engelbert called the issue “complex and nuanced” and said the league would continue conversations with team officials and the players’ association.
In an Aug. 9 post, Uthmeier criticized the WNBA for continuing “to view the question of ‘what is a woman?’ as something that is ‘complex and nuanced’ instead of recognizing the simple truth.”
“What’s next,” he added, “men assaulting women on the WNBA courts?”
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