DiJonai Carrington had a Golden State Valkyries fan briefly removed from courtside during Wednesday night’s Chicago Sky-Valkyries game at Chase Center after she complained to officials. The fan was later allowed to return after the complaint was ruled “unfounded.”
With 8:47 left in the fourth quarter, Carrington approached referee Sarah Williams and pointed out a male fan sitting courtside. Chicago Sky team security and arena security escorted the fan from his seat. A Golden State Valkyries official told ClutchPoints reporter Kenzo Fukuda: “The fan was cooperative after a complaint that was unfounded.” The Sky organization indicated the fan received a warning. No public details have been released about what Carrington claimed the fan said or did. The fan returned to his seat before the quarter ended and was later seen interacting casually with nearby spectators.
The episode is the latest flashpoint in a stretch of controversy surrounding the 28-year-old Sky guard. Four days earlier she was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul after striking Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham across the head/neck area on a breakaway. Carrington then posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” on social media, intensifying the reaction.
BrickCenter on X (formerly Twitter): “DiJonai Carrington complained to security and got a fan KICKED OUT of the game.The fan was later allowed BACK IN because the complaint was BS 🤔Professional victim. pic.twitter.com/OO6ZEB5w8q / X”
DiJonai Carrington complained to security and got a fan KICKED OUT of the game.The fan was later allowed BACK IN because the complaint was BS 🤔Professional victim. pic.twitter.com/OO6ZEB5w8q
In December 2024, while with the Connecticut Sun, Carrington went on Instagram Live after a dispute with an Uber/taxi driver. She and friends were ejected from the vehicle (accounts describe a clash over playing music). The driver sought payment and threatened to call police. Carrington accused him of attempting to kidnap her and her friends, framed the threat to involve police in racial terms (“I don’t know why white people think they can get away with trying to scare black people by only saying, ‘Oh, I’m gonna call the police’”), and publicly confronted him on the livestream.
In the same video she suggested her companions should have damaged the driver’s car, saying along the lines of “Y’all should have broke something in this… sir’s car.” She later mocked the driver over language after he spoke to a subsequent driver, incorrectly assuming Arabic when the second driver spoke Spanish. No independent evidence has emerged supporting the kidnapping claim; the dispute appears rooted in the ejection and payment argument. The clip resurfaced amid the recent on-court incidents.
Carrington’s recent actions—flagrant contact, a social-media race claim after an ejection, an unfounded fan complaint that temporarily cost a paying customer part of the game, and the earlier Uber episode involving a kidnapping allegation plus a suggestion of property damage—have drawn sharp criticism from fans and media. WNBA attendance and visibility remain fragile; incidents that remove paying fans over unsubstantiated complaints or escalate routine disputes into public racial accusations do not help the product.
Players are held to professional standards of conduct on and off the floor. Repeated episodes of this nature raise legitimate questions about whether Carrington’s presence advances the league or consistently distracts from it. The Valkyries and arena staff handled the courtside complaint by investigating and restoring the fan once it was deemed unfounded. That process worked. The broader pattern of behavior remains on the player.
