The flagrant foul 2 call against Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington for contact with Indiana Fever‘s Sophie Cunningham on Saturday, along with Carrington’s social media post afterward, has fueled further incendiary talk in the WNBA.
The incident also prompted some WNBA pioneers to rally around the league, its players, narrative, and culture.
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However, a political pundit frowned at the commentary during halftime of the Minnesota Lynx-Dallas Wings game on Sunday, when the show’s hosts, Maria Taylor and former women’s basketball greats Cheryl Miller and Sue Bird, expressed their views on those issues.
Jon Root Rips Maria Taylor, Cheryl Miller on Their Comments During WNBA Halftime Show
Root, a content creator and political pundit, reacted to a video clip in which Taylor, Miller, and Bird discussed Carrington’s flagrant foul 2 and the subsequent ejection after Carrington hit Cunningham in the head/neck area during the first quarter of the Fever’s 90-86 win over the Sky on Saturday.
The hosts took turns discussing the issue, and Taylor expressed concerns that the Sky guard and her social media comment are being used as “ammunition for a cultural war.”
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Former WNBA coach Miller, on the other hand, called for the current WNBA leadership and its players’ association to rally around the brand in its fight against groups seeking to sabotage the league and its narrative.
However, Root took a dissenting stance on the hosts’ views, calling Taylor and Miller’s claims about the current situation in the WNBA ridiculous.
“Maria Taylor said players like DiJonai Carrington are being used as “ammunition for a culture war”, while Cheryl Miller claims “outsiders” AKA conservatives are “hijacking the league” … Insane,” Root wrote.
Bird, for her part, pointed out that some individuals are trying to use the league for their personal interests and urged the leadership, the players, and the union to defend what they stand for.
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“You strategize, and that’s how you figure out how to … defend yourselves and defend what this league has built. That requires leadership and on all levels from the players, from the union, from the league, you name it, us who are covering the game. So, that’s what I think we need to start to to do,” she said.
The crew cited Indiana head coach Stephanie White, who agreed with the game officials’ decision but, given Carrington’s physicality over the years, believed that her intent to hit the Fever guard was not malicious.
In a separate interview, Cunningham, who is also embroiled in a controversy over her comments about the possibility of accepting transgender basketball players to the WNBA, said the contact was “unnecessary” and “intentional.”
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
