TL;DR
- Jackie Young and Dijonai Carrington are reportedly dating.
- Fans speculate about their relationship through social media posts.
- Dijonai’s breakup with NaLyssa Smith adds drama to the situation.
- The couple has been spotted together at various events.
- Their romance could impact the upcoming WNBA season.
Friends — the WNBA remains the most delightfully messy and dramatic lesbian television program available. As the free agency period opens and the college draft approaches, the season itself is nearly here, and W fans have been keeping an eye on an extremely important story that will have a monumental impact on the ensuing months of gameplay: Dijonai Carrington and Jackie Young’s alleged relationship. Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?
When Did Dijonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith Break Up? Dijoani Carrington and Nalyssa Smith’s on-and-off relationship had been a consistent source of entertainment and speculation for the W’s lesbian fandom. During their salad days at Baylor, they cultivated a lesbian romance despite the ominous razzle dazzle of Kim Mulkey’s watchful eye. As star-crossed lovers playing against each other in the WNBA, they snuck moments of voraciously captured physical affection between plays — a video of Lyss picking up Nai by the waist, mid-game, went viral as evidence of the WNBA’s endless delights.
As teammates on the Dallas Wings last season, they adopted rookie Paige Bueckers, delivering the wholesome family image we craved. Then, Smith was traded to the Aces and Carrington was traded to the Lynx. Carrington got injured. Carrington supported Smith courtside at the WNBA finals as the Aces secured the 2025 crown. Then, in November of 2025, intrepid fans noticed the two had wiped the other’s presence from their respective social media accounts and unfollowed each other on all platforms. On her Instagram story, Carrington posted an emotional quote: “I’ve always been afraid of losing people I love. Sometimes I wonder, is there anyone out there afraid to lose me?” A few days later, Lyss posted photos of herself in a cool outfit with a new tattoo. Everyone copes with heartbreak in their very own way, and that’s what makes society so special.
A Hypothetical Timeline of Jackie Young and Dijonai Carrington’s Alleged Relationship In the off-season, Smith played for Athletes Unlimited while Carrington remained sidelined due to injury. Meanwhile, Jackie Young — Lyss’s Aces teammate — has been playing in Miami for Unrivaled, on the Laces team. Now, a reliable informant (my friend Carmen) confirmed that going back to February 21st, Carrington was attending Unrivaled games in Miami every weekend. While it’s common for Unrivaled players to catch each other’s games on their off nights, and non-Unrivaled players have been known to stop in for a game or two, Carrington’s consistent attendance suggests she was perhaps hanging out in Miami quite a bit.
On February 21st, she sat with Tash Cloud, who plays for Unrivaled’s Phantom, and Aziaha James, who plays for the Lunar Owls. The next weekend she sat with DeWanna Bonner, whose fiancée, Alyssa Thomas, plays on the Laces with Young. The following weekend, at the Unrivaled championships, Carrington was, of course, right next to Jackie Young. This event was captured in a fan video that Courtney Williams seems to have clocked and then attempted to block. Williams plays for Unrivaled’s Vinyl team.
Jackie Young is also on the USA Basketball Team, which held their pre-qualifier camp in Miami in early March. After the Unrivaled finals and training in Miami, the USA Basketball Team headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the Qualifying Tournament. Jackie Young posted an Instagram carousel on March 20th that included a received bouquet of flowers emblazoned with the message “Good luck at USA baby.” Nai liked the post. Nai also liked a post by the florist, who posted a video of herself delivering the flowers, captioned, “let this be your sign to order her a big bouquet delivered to her front door.”
Carrington didn’t just send flowers — she was also spotted courtside supporting Young in Puerto Rico. Then, on March 25th, Dijonai Carrington and Jackie Young posted nearly identical pics of the Miami skyline, seemingly through a hotel window, possibly the same exact hotel window. Many fans interpreted this Skyline Share as a “soft launch.” This would be a very creative soft launch and if it was, I love it, but I fear that the sky is vast — and a Miami skyline, while not quite as vast as the entire sky, is still spacious and thus widely accessible.
However, even Young and Carrington weren’t doing an intentional soft launch, they were still presenting extremely credible evidence. It was certainly evidence enough for NaLyssa Smith, who tweeted “🤣” shortly after the hotel photos had made public. She deleted the tweet almost immediately, but WNBA gossip sleuths had already captured it so it can live on forever in our hearts.
A reliable informant (my friend Carmen) also informed me that Young and Carrington have been posting “identical lovey-dovey quotes on IG for a month now.” On March 27th, Carrington and Young were captured by approximately 5,000 sapphic cell phones attending the Notre Dame vs Vanderbilt NCAA finals game. Young is a Notre Dame alum.
Now — Kee Simone at Scoops Galore, my top source for WNBA gossip of this nature, has a reliable source alleging that Jackie and Dijonai were in fact “messing around” during the first season of Unrivaled in 2024, encompassing a time period during which Simone is not sure about NaLyssa and Dijonai’s relationship status. However, Simone believes that Lyss did not know about Jackie and Nai’s hookups at the time, nor when she played side-by-side with Jackie on the Las Vegas Aces in 2025.
According to Simone, there have also been allegations that Smith had cheated on Carrington with a “Baddies” cast member, and subsequently was informed via DM about Nai and Jackie’s past. Furthermore, there are rumors and allegations of a present-day romantic connection between Smith and Deja Kelly, who allegedly was recently dating Jackie Young. Kelly, like Smith, played for Athletes Unlimited this season. Unlike Smith, Kelly is not officially “out” as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Speaking once again on the hot topic of Dijoani Carrington and Jackie Young probably dating — “Maybe the identical posting happening on social media from the two of them the other day was a hard launch,” said Simone. “Maybe they’re just like y’all know, we don’t have to address it, we don’t have to say it, we don’t have to announce it, it is what it is and we’re gonna live our lives in public the way we like to.”
Which brings me to April 4, when fellow baller Rae Burrell posted a dancey video with Carrington. This was a seemingly innocuous decision, but before long, eagle-eyed followers made a keen observation regarding a visible mirror reflection in said dance video. “I’d know that back anywhere,” one commenter noted. Indeed: Jackie Young was in the room with Carrington and Burrell. Maybe Young was filming the video.
Then, as explained by Kee Simone, Dijonai Carrington’s brother, on a TikTok live, when asked in the chat if Dijonai was dating Jackie, replied, “Damn right, she is with her. I ain’t seen her in about a week, I’m like damn sister sister sister where you at?” Yesterday, Carrington reposted a video on Instagram about making long-distance relationships work. So there you have it.
As free agency negotiations begin and the expansion draft draws ever-closer, many are asking: what’s worse, playing on the same team as your ex, or playing on the same team as your ex’s new girl? If Lyss is really dating Jackie’s ex, then does that cancel it all out? Personal drama aside, will Jackie Young and NaLyssa Smith both remain on the Las Vegas Aces? It’s likely — Young has spent her entire career there and has a great thing going with star A’ja Wilson, and the Aces have already extended a restricted qualifying offer to Smith. In conclusion, Jackie Young and Dijonai Carrington are a very hot couple and we have the highest hopes for their ongoing friendship.
https://x.com/dijonaition/status/2025408944844230796?s=46
https://x.com/haushoops/status/2027942380901720276?s=46