A reporter is persistently inquiring about Caitlin Clark. Players want her banned.

Tension between players and the press is being stoked by a journalist’s concentration on Clark during a thrilling but delicate time for the WNBA.

Guard DiJonai Carrington was besieged by media last week during her team’s first-round playoff series matchup with the Indiana Fever, led by WNBA player Caitlin Clark. In the previous game, Carrington had given Clark a black eye after swatting her in the face as she reached for the ball.

The query came from columnist Christine Brennan of USA Today: Were you intentional in doing that?

No, Carrington said.

Brennan asked again: Did you joke about it after the game went on?

Carrington remarked, “I just told you I didn’t even know I hit her.”

For the league, which has historically been led by women of color but has seen much of its recent success ascribed to Clark, the exchange came at an exciting but sensitive time. There has never been more interest on the league, yet during the series, players experienced increases in online hostility, and Connecticut’s home venue added security.

Against this background, Brennan was questioned by the Sun’s DeWanna Bonner a few minutes later after the questions in the Connecticut locker room didn’t sit well.

Bonner pleaded with the columnist to treat her teammates like people as Brennan kept trying to identify herself and clarify what she had said. Bonner went back to the locker room after they had primarily talked over each other for almost two minutes. Brendan confirmed

Brennan, a frequent TV guest and author of a book about Clark, came up to the other reporters and said that they wouldn’t see anything like that in the NFL. She questioned the WNBA’s excessive sensitivity and advised several reporters to study her decades-spanning coverage of former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick if they had any doubts about her grasp of the racial dynamics at work. (Carrington is Black; Brennan is White.

Three days later, Brennan, one of the most well-known sports journalists in the nation, had a statement from the Women’s National Basketball Players Association requesting that the league cancel her credential.