DiJonai Carrington, the WNBA player who bashed Sophie Cunningham in the face and then accused the
league of “white privilege” when she was handed a flagrant foul, was
born to a privileged family and grew up attending extremely expensive
private schools.
The Chicago Sky player was handed her punishment
after delivering a clothesline flagrant foul against Indiana Fever star
Sophie Cunningham on August 8. After being handed her foul judgment,
Carrington posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” in an August 9 social media post.
Clearly, Carrington was claiming that her punishment was a result of
Cunningham’s “white privilege,” and not a just punishment for her own
actions.
So, who is DiJonai Carrington? Born in San Diego,
California, the 28-year-old shooting guard is the daughter of former San
Diego Chargers player Darren Carrington. She was drafted by the
Connecticut Sun in the 2021 WNBA draft before being traded twice in the
same season, moving from the Dallas Wings to the Minnesota Lynx in 2025.
By 2026, she moved on once again, this time to the Chicago Sky. But
before all that, Carrington was a child of privilege herself.
Carrington
attended Horizon Christian Academy in San Diego, where she became a
standout basketball player for the high school’s team. Horizon Christian
Academy is a private school that charges nearly $16,000 a year in
tuition.
After graduating from Horizon, she declared for Stanford
University, where tuition is upwards of $90,000 a year. After four
seasons, she moved to Baylor for one final season. Baylor charges around
$65,000 in annual tuition.
Looking at her high-priced education,
it certainly does appear that DiJonai Carrington also comes from a
place of status and privilege.
On the other hand, Sophie
Cunningham attended a public high school in Columbia, Missouri, before
attending a state college, the University of Missouri, which charges a
mere $16,000 a year in tuition. So, in the end, Sophie Cunningham didn’t
pay as much for her entire college education as Carrington paid for
just one year at Stanford.
So, the question is, exactly who had the “privilege” between them?
