CHICAGO — Leaning against the wall in a United Center tunnel Saturday afternoon, Sophie Cunningham reflected on the emerging truth of her existence: Sometimes she seeks the spotlight, and the rest of the time, the spotlight seeks her.

“Another day, another dollar, welcome to my life, boys and girls,” the Indiana Fever guard declared.

It should surprise no one, of course, that Cunningham took a hard foul in a 90-86 win over the Chicago Sky and then elected to give as good as she got. The arm-to-the-neck she absorbed from the Sky’s DiJonai Carrington on a first-quarter layup attempt, which resulted in Carrington’s ejection, was just the start.

“From my point of view, I mean, clearly I think it was unnecessary,” Cunningham said after the game. “I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her. But I guess she has some pent-up stuff. So get your s— off. That’s fine. I can take it.”

Cunningham immediately popped up, pushed Carrington and was restrained by teammate Makalya Timpson while exchanging words. (“I’m not going to let anyone just do that to me, I think everyone knows that,” Cunningham said.) Carrington was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul, but Cunningham wasn’t hit with a technical foul for the shove because officials “deemed her reaction to the severity of the contact to be acceptable,” per a pool report distributed after the game.

DiJonai Carrington was assessed a Flagrant 2 and was ejected from the game after this play. pic.twitter.com/WRapu4lqHX

— ESPN (@espn) August 8, 2026

Shortly after heading to the locker room, a post appeared on Carrington’s Threads account tagging the Fever with the phrase “WHITE PRIVILEGE.” (Carrington was not available for comment Saturday.)

“Oh yeah, we saw it,” Cunningham said. “I think the league is taking care of that. I mean, this has nothing to do with race. Last year I did the same thing, and I got kicked out, as I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason to even play that card.”

While Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game that she didn’t believe Carrington connected with Cunningham’s neck intentionally, Cunningham drew a straight line to her own infamous ejection against the Connecticut Sun late last season — and not necessarily to the backlash against her recently published comments regarding transgender athletes.

In that 2025 game, Cunningham chased down guard Jacy Sheldon, now a member of the Sky, on a breakaway and wound up applying a headlock to Sheldon in the ensuing dust-up. The disconnect for Cunningham is that Carrington wasn’t even a member of the Sky last year.

“She has no reason to be doing any of that,” Cunningham said. “Like, I don’t even know her. She wasn’t even on the team when all that was going on. But I do think when people play the Fever, we’re nationally televised, there’s a lot of eyes on us. People just want attention. And that’s her just trying to get attention.”

The ruckus around Cunningham does not appear to be dissipating, in any event. There were more protests and counterprotests regarding transgender athletes around the United Center on Saturday, and Cunningham checked into the game to a mixed chorus of cheers and boos in the first quarter.

Not long after, she had not one but two teammates turning her away from another conflagration in the wake of Carrington’s foul — first Timpson, then veteran Monique Billings.

“She’s like, ‘Quit being messy,’” Cunningham said of Billings. “I’m like, ‘You’re right, Mo. This is time for me to be better.’”

Freddie Freeman leads the Los Angeles Dodgers into a matchup against Gabriel Moreno and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. ET. Freeman is at .307, the fifth-best average in the league, and Moreno ranks seventh at .301. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-7, 2.76 ERA) will start for the Dodgers, who are 69-47 this season and first in the NL West. Brandon Pfaadt (6-1, 3.66 ERA) is expected to start for the Diamondbacks, who are 62-55 and second in the NL West.

How to watch Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks odds

• Favorite Moneyline: Dodgers -200
• Underdog Moneyline: Diamondbacks +165
• Total: 8.5
• Total Over Odds: -110
• Total Under Odds: -110

Injury reports

Dodgers

Dalton Rushing: 10 Day IL (Arm), Blake Treinen: 15 Day IL (Elbow), Brock Stewart: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Will Klein: 15 Day IL (Elbow), Bobby Miller: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Gavin Stone: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Jake Cousins: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Will Smith: 60 Day IL (Neck), Brusdar Graterol: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Blake Snell: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Kris Bubic: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Tyler Glasnow: 60 Day IL (Back), Ben Casparius: 60 Day IL (Shoulder)

Diamondbacks

Jordan Lawlar: 10 Day IL (Hamstring), Lourdes Gurriel Jr.: 10 Day IL (Adductor), Tommy Troy: 10 Day IL (Shoulder), Ryan Thompson: 15 Day IL (Back), Drey Jameson: 15 Day IL (Hip), Mike Soroka: 15 Day IL (Lower body), A.J. Puk: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Cristian Mena: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Blake Walston: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Ryne Nelson: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Zac Gallen: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Corbin Burnes: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Andrew Saalfrank: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Justin Martinez: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Merrill Kelly: day-to-day (Leg)

Stats to know

• Los Angeles’ Shohei Ohtani has hit 26 home runs this season, which ranks 9th in MLB. He has also tallied 70 RBIs (17th in MLB) and has scored 73 runs. In 487 plate appearances, he has recorded a .296 BA, .400 OBP and .552 SLG with a 14.2% walk rate and a 22.6% strikeout rate. He has been effective on the base paths, recording six steals on nine attempts.
• In 495 plate appearances, Andy Pages has hit 19 long balls, tallied 75 RBIs (8th in MLB) and scored 66 runs. He is batting .268/.333/.457 and has posted a 20% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate. Pages has recorded 10 steals on 16 attempts.
• Corbin Carroll is hitting for a .242 BA, .337 OBP and .466 SLG with a 22.4% strikeout rate and an 11.4% walk rate. His OPS is .803 and he has scored 70 runs. In 490 plate appearances, he has hit 16 home runs and driven in 53 runs. Carroll has recorded 16 steals on 18 attempts.
• In 491 plate appearances, Ketel Marte has slashed .246/.305/.436 this season. He has hit 19 long balls and driven in 62 runs with a strikeout rate of 15.5% and a walk rate of 7.3%. and has scored 60 runs.

This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.

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