The DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham situation has become among the hottest topics in the entire WNBA. A brutal foul from the Chicago Sky star led the polarizing Indiana Fever guard to criticize her for intentionally trying to cause her harm.
However, her head coach, Stephanie White, didn’t see the situation that way. As a result, a ton of online speculation emerged about her job being at risk for not defending her player. After the veteran coach fired back against those comments, Dave Portnoy remained unconvinced.
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Dave Portnoy Rips Fever‘s Stephanie White
A hard foul from Carrington led to a flagrant 2 assessment for her, but Cunningham believed that she had been intentional in her attempt. White publicly disagreed with her, agreeing with the flagrant 2 assessment but unwilling to call it an intentional incident.
As a result, a wide selection of fans, particularly in favor of the Fever star, called for White’s job for not having her player’s back. The comments clearly reached White as well, as she wanted to set the record straight with the media.
“I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100% always have my players’ backs. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. They know that. It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing. Because they are [expletive] playing.”
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She admitted that her style of leadership was always contingent on love and grace as opposed to hate and division. In an impassioned speech, she believed that the unity of the WNBA was going to overcome some of the more dishonest debates around the league.
“The hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win. It won’t win. We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided. Every day, these women put their [expletive] on the line. I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”
The emotions were clear from White, who’s already had an extremely positive impact on Indiana. The Fever are currently 4th seed with a 21-12 record so far, and has the team playing an organized style of basketball as well.
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But it still isn’t enough to convince everyone. Portnoy, who’s been among the biggest advocates for Cunningham and Caitlin Clark, continued his barrage against White. Taking to X, he instead took offense to her comments, believing she owed Fever fans an apology.
“I am a legit Fever fan. If she just said, ‘I [expletive] up the other night. I shoulda defended Sophie (MY PLAYER) and not DJ, so I get why our fans our pissed at me,’ maybe I can accept the apology. But this didn’t really feel like an apology.”
Going a step further, he put further blame on Carrington for trying to spread division as opposed to the dishonest grifters, as some folks have suggested.
“More her yelling at us for trying to divide the locker room or something. Like blaming us for DJ tweeting ‘white privilege’ in the locker room. That’s what is dividing people. Fever fans and players get blamed for everything under the sun. We’re not trying to divide anybody, but it’s Fever vs the world, and we want a coach who feels and acts that way.”
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It remains to be seen if the former NCAA champion changes her stance or her messaging to the fan base as a whole. But it seems clear that her current angle isn’t landing with all of the fanbase.
As a result, some continue to stand against her views, despite the success the team is enjoying on the court.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
