After a frightening preseason fall, MRI results offer relief for the Liberty. The sharpshooter now faces a brief recovery period before returning to anchor New York’s title defense.
The New York Liberty announced on Monday that star Sabrina Ionescu will miss at least two weeks with a left ankle injury.
Ionescu rolled her left ankle in a preseason game against the Connecticut Sun.
An MRI on Monday revealed that Ionescu avoided a significant injury. She will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Ionescu suffered the injury less than three minutes into the third quarter of Sunday's 79-67 preseason win over the Sun. After coming off a screen set by Jonquel Jones, Ionescu was met in the paint by Sun forward Diamond Miller. She attempted to drive past Miller before picking up her dribble and going up for a reverse layup. Ionescu rolled her left ankle as she landed and collapsed to the floor.
One of the best shooters in the league, Ionescu remained on the ground for only a moment before standing up and signaling to the Liberty bench that she needed a sub. She walked back to the locker room and shortly after was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Ionescu's rookie season was cut short after she suffered a Grade 3 left ankle sprain in 2020. She had surgery on the same ankle to remove irritating scar tissue.
Ionescu appeared in 38 games last season. She averaged 18.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 40.1% from the field, 29.9% from beyond the arc and 93.3% from the free-throw line.
A four-time All-Star and one-time WNBA champion, Ionescu has career averages of 16.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.
While Ionescu is sidelined, the Liberty could turn to Pauline Astier more, who recently joined the team after completing her overseas season. She finished with 12 points and four assists in 22 minutes against the Connecticut Sun in the team's preseason finale.
“She’s special,” DeMarco said of Astier. “She knows the game. It’s some of the stuff you can’t teach and outside of her competitiveness, she just has a great feel for the game, and she elevates her teammates. And she’s done a really great job.”
A personal downside for Ionescu, a former Oregon star, is that she will miss the Liberty's only two road games against the Portland Fire.
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