Former WNBA Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington is set to make her season debut for the Chicago Sky on Thursday, July 30 against the Connecticut Sun, the team announced.
Barring any pregame setbacks, the matchup will mark the guard’s first appearance since the end of the 2025 season.
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Second-year Sky head coach Tyler Marsh told reporters on Thursday that Carrington “has been looking great the last few days” of practice after rehabbing a major left foot sprain. She was initially listed as questionable heading into Thursday’s game.
The 2021 second round draft pick averaged 9.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game last season, during which she spent 20 games with the Dallas Wings before being dealt to the Minnesota Lynx at the trade deadline. She contributed as the Lynx pursued a championship but sustained a season-ending injury in the first round of the playoffs.
Carrington signed with the Sky on a one-year, $650,000 deal this offseason and could provide a much-needed defensive boost as the team looks to improve on a rough first half of the current regular-season campaign.
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The Sky looked to be on a positive trajectory after making multiple offseason acquisitions until they lost Rickea Jackson to a season-ending ACL injury four games into the season. Skylar Diggins, another offseason signee, has been sidelined played since July 3. Veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot returned 10 games ago after tearing her ACL last year.
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According to an article from the Sky, Carrington plans to Marsh during Thursday’s game to use her as defensive weapon against whichever player is “hot right now.”
“What she can do defensively helps any team,” Marsh said. “And her ability to attack the paint to put pressure on the rim from an offensive standpoint … she’s a big part of what we want to do as someone that’s versatile on both sides of the floor.”
Carrington’s track record has proven that she can provide that edge. In 2024, she won Most Improved Player and an All-Defensive First Team honors.
Her season debut as the Sky host the Sun pits her against her former team, which she helped to three straight postseason runs from 2022-24.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: DiJonai Carrington to make season debut for Chicago Sky vs. Connecticut Sun
