DiJonai Carrington prepares for long-awaited Chicago Sky debut: ‘When I feel good, I’m not ducking no smoke’

Most of the 2026 WNBA season has been a waiting game for DiJonai Carrington. But after more than three months on the sidelines, the guard is finally ready to make her debut for the Chicago Sky.

Carrington returned to full practice with the Sky this week after missing the first 27 games with a left foot sprain, an injury she carried into free agency from last season. She classified herself as a game-day decision for now, which means she could make her debut as soon as Thursday’s game against the Connecticut Sun at Wintrust Arena.

“I learned a lot about myself and my resiliency,” Carrington said. “I’m just proud of myself. I went through a lot over this last year, and to be close to getting back out on the floor is really — it’s kind of surreal.”

After suffering the sprain during the 2025 playoffs, Carrington underwent an initial surgery in October followed by a secondary procedure to remove hardware from her foot in April. The ensuing three-month rehabilitation window timed Carrington’s return for after the All-Star break.

The Sky returns from the break with five consecutive home games, an ideal runway for an injured player to reintegrate into the team. And the weeklong break between games allowed Carrington to finally scrimmage full court with her teammates, checking one of the final boxes.

“Obviously when they’re playing games every other day, I’m not going to be like, ‘All right, I need nine of y’all to come play five-on-five full court with me after practice,” Carrington said with a laugh.

Her recovery process was complicated by the Sky’s lack of a permanent training site. Despite previous promises from ownership, the team’s new facility in Bedford Park won’t be operational for this season. In the interim the Sky has patched together training sessions at UIC, Loyola and Wintrust Arena with varying access to rehabilitation resources.

While the Sky never provided a firm move-in date for the training facility, Carrington said she never expected the delays to last this long — and certainly not for the entire season. As a one-year signing, she will have returned to free agency before the facility will be available to players.

Carrington acknowledged that the lack of a training facility made her recovery process “tough” but also refused to lean on that obstacle.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” she said. “Nobody cares. Honestly, I wouldn’t care if it was happening to somebody else on another team. You just have to show up, figure it out, find a way to do the things that you need to do. It hasn’t been ideal, but that’s how life goes sometimes, you know?”

The Sky signed Carrington to that one-year deal with an understanding that she wouldn’t be available until the second half of the season — and potentially not until late August or September. While her recovery has followed the more optimistic projection, another midseason reintegration of a potential starter will be a challenge for coach Tyler Marsh.

This isn’t new for Marsh. The Sky started the season with three of their best players sidelined by injuries: Carrington, point guard Courtney Vandersloot and forward Azurá Stevens. Stevens returned in May and Vandersloot in June.

Vandersloot’s return created upheaval in the starting lineup, pushing Skylar Diggins into a reserve role. Diggins hasn’t returned to the court since she was moved out of the lineup because of a knee injury.

Now Carrington joins the cluttered backcourt as the Sky attempt to salvage the season.

“It’s an adjustment, but it’s an adjustment that we’ve had to face multiple times this year,” Marsh said. “It is tough. It changes things across the board a little bit, just in how you manage those minutes, but we have a flexible team. We have an unselfish team.

“The team knows the capabilities that DiJonai brings, and obviously the communication has been there in terms of how big a piece we anticipated her being upon her return coming into this season. We’ll figure it out as a unit and as a staff.”

For now, Carrington is focused on basketball. In her initial games, she expects to rely on prior relationships with teammates such as Natasha Cloud and Vandersloot, with whom she played in offseason leagues such as Athletes Unlimited and Unrivaled.

Carrington said she isn’t nervous, but a type of anxiety defines the final days before returning to the court. Still, she’s eager to get back, whether it’s Thursday against the Sun, Saturday against the Las Vegas Aces or later in this homestand.

“When I feel good, I’m not ducking no smoke,” Carrington said. “I’m going to get back out there.”