Being at the receiving end of criticism is nothing new for Caitlin Clark. Many would believe the 6-foot-guard has had a target on her back ever since she stepped foot inside the professional court. Now, the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer is in the firing range of another one of her WNBA peers, Connecticut Sun star DiJonai Carrington, who also happens to have close ties with Clark’s teammate NaLyssa Smith.

So many bells ring for some fans when the names NaLyssa Smith and DiJonai Carrington are put together. Former teammates at Baylor, the news about their relationship circulated in 2021, which was later confirmed by the University’s official website. However, both had to go their separate ways after Carrington got drafted by Connecticut Sun in 2021 and Smith by Indiana a year after.

Since then, there have been rumors about their separation but nothing conclusive has come to the surface till now. As for Smith’s equation with Caitlin Clark, the 23-year-old has acknowledged Clark’s greatness even before they became teammates. This fact can be proven through an old tweet of hers which says, “Caitlin Clark is valid!!” But how is she involved in the whole Clark-Carrington feud?

While DiJonai Carrington seemingly slammed Caitlin Clark, the Fever rookie just wants to focus on basketball

Indiana’s loss against Connecticut on June 10 gained traction for a lot of reasons. One of them emerged to be the alleged mockery by DiJonai Carrington of Caitlin Clark after a foul. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg between these two athletes. Not so long after, the media asked the 2× USBWA National Player of the Year to spare a thought or two about the use of her name for non-sports topics during one of her practice sessions. She replied, “People can talk about what they want to talk about. I’m just here to play basketball.” 

As it turns out, this response didn’t sit well with the 2016 McDonald’s All-American, Carrington. She wasted no time in expressing her dissatisfaction with Clark’s remarks. Without pointing fingers at her directly, she tweeted regarding the whole scenario. Carrington wrote on X, “Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see the sh*t, we all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.” 

Anyhow, that wasn’t the end of this story. During a pregame media session on Thursday, media again surrounded Caitlin Clark and commented again on a more or less similar question. This time around, the former Iowa phenom had a different approach. She said, “People should not be using my name. It’s disappointing. Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect. The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect.” 

The opening year of Caitlin Clark hasn’t been short of controversies. Nonetheless, fans will be glad that she is not letting the noise affect her game in any way. What more can follow her as a rookie? We’ll have to wait and see.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.