Chicago Sky forward Diamond DeShields publicly said a prayer asking for divine protection after she was bombarded with death threats and racist name-calling for delivering a hard foul on Caitlin Clark during Friday’s game.
Clark, mainstream America’s darling of the WNBA and the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, torched the Sky for a career-high 31 points and 12 assists during her Indiana Fever’s blowout victory, 100-81, over the Sky.
DeShields delivered two hard fouls on Clark late in the 4th quarter, the latter of which has gone viral and incited a tidal wave of hate from overzealous Clark supporters.
Clark fans believe resolutely that the hard body check on Clark was deliberate and called for DeShields’ suspension, firing from the Sky, and even worse. Some have even suggested that DeShields, who recovered from a life-threatening brain tumor, should have died from that dangerous medical malady. Others have asked the tumor to return more aggressively and finish her off.
After her social media pages were drenched with hate from Clark fans for over 24 hours, DeShields took to her Instagram page to ask for supernatural intervention.
“Thank you, God, for covering me,” DeShields wrote to her nearly 100K Instagram followers. “I pray u cover those who wish harm unto me as well.”
DeShields has many supporters, however, who stand behind her and believe the contact was incidental and doesn’t deserve a suspension. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1 on Friday night, which resulted in a technical foul on DeShields.
