The Connecticut Sun can be physical, and in the playoffs, it is all A-Okay! When the Sun was battling against the Indiana Fever during Game 1 on Sunday, the Sun guard DiJonai Carrington was at the center of it all when she unintentionally poked the first overall pick in the eye while trying to block a pass to Aliyah Boston. Though Carrington did not succeed in her intentions, she was slammed after the game by a lot of Caitlin Clark fans.

The referees not calling it a foul and Clark tumbling in the playoffs, only made the situation worse for Carrington. In order to know the 26-year-old’s real intentions, the guard was questioned during the Sun’s practice session before Game 2 by USA Today reporter Christine Brennan, which took an ugly turn.

While Carrington denied hurting Clark purposefully, Brenann’s journalism ethics were challenged by the WNBPA on Friday. This apparently did not go down well with ‘USA Today’ which criticized the WNBA, supporting Brennan. And now the popular journalist has come to the fore to reveal her side of the story and talk about her future. Brennan took to X on Saturday to retweet her peer Ryan Glasspiegel’s statement while expounding that she continues to stand by her rights. “Thank you @sportsrapport. I’ll keep asking questions and seeking answers. It’s Journalism 101,” Brennan expressed.

Reminding everyone of the ethics of Brennan, Glasspiegel enumerated that she was the “one of the first female NFL beat writers,” and a trailblazer in her industry before criticizing the WNBPA’s statement. “This statement is pretty crazy given her body of work,” Glasspiegel concluded on X.

According to the WNBPA, Brennan had tried to take away the limelight from the WNBA season awards. The Most Improved Player of the Year was interrogated in an attempt to distract fans from her success. And the league revealed that it wouldn’t mind standing up for Carrington. As per the governing body, Brennan’s treatment of Carrington was outright “indecent and downright insincere,” which aimed to capitalize on a false narrative. And after this, her organization came to defend her.

The ‘USA Today’ in support of Brennan put out a post explaining that it was the right of the journalist to ask questions and “seek truth.” The interview was done to report the whole incident in an unbiased manner and it was done only to “get the player’s perspective directly.” The statement was issued by Sports Executive Editor Roxanna Scott of USA Today in consideration of Carrington’s interview.

Christine Brennan’s actual interview with DiJonai Carrington

The said interview took place during the Sun’s practice after their Game 1 win. Brennan, who is also writing a book on Clark’s rise, set to release in 2025, asked Carrington if she had intentionally poked Clark. Notably, by the end of the game, Clark had a black patch under her eye and many fans believed that Carrington had done it on purpose to stop the rookie from performing well in the game. The Des Moines-born could only score 2 of the 13 threes she attempted in the game, which again made fans doubt Carrington. However, the latter denied these allegations.

“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye. That doesn’t even make sense to me. But no I didn’t. I didn’t even know I hit her. I was trying to make a play on the ball and I guess I followed through and hit her. Obviously, it’s never intentional, that’s not even the type of player I am,” Carrington stated.

This apparent allegation didn’t go down well with the WNBPA, who issued a statement against Brennan. But the popular journalist, after getting support from her organization, came to the fore to reveal her resolve to have unbiased journalism. Only time will tell what are the next steps by either party in this concern.