Mystics injury bug continues as Elena Delle Donne reaggravates ankle injury
Mystics injury bug continues as Elena Delle Donne reaggravates ankle injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
There are few situations in sports worse than when your franchise player goes down with an injury. It's a scene that the Washington Mystics organization has all been too familiar with over the past four seasons. For a myriad of reasons, that's why there was so much excitement when Elena Delle Donne made a return to the Mystics after a two-game absence. Equal to that excitement was the disappointment that followed when she left Sunday's game late in the second quarter.
Just a minute and some change away from halftime, Delle Donne stepped on DeWanna's Bonner foot closing out on her shot. Her left ankle jolted in an awkward angle away from her body and instantly the forward was one-hopping on the opposite foot in pain.
She would reach down to put her hands on the floor to try and stretch it out. Sensing no relief, she eventually made a 180-degree turn and headed into the tunnel that leads to the lockerrooms at Mohegan Sun Arena. Delle Donne would not return to the game.
Postgame, head coach Eric Thibault had no update on the two-time WNBA MVP and would know more once they got back home. He said she was "frustrated more than anything."
It is the same ankle that forced Delle Donne to miss the previous pair of games. The original left ankle sprain occurred against the Atlanta Dream on June 30. Diagnosed with a left ankle sprain, her status was day-to-day until she suited up against the Connecticut Sun.
Her status will certainly be in question given the quick turnaround against the Seattle Storm on Tuesday. The All-Str Game will be the next game on Delle Donne's schedule (Saturday in Las Vegas) if she decides to partake in the festivities.
This season Delle Donne has missed three of the team's 18 games of the season with two other games seeing her exit early. That's a big improvement from missing 11 of the 36 games last year (mostly from rest games), but we've still yet to see Delle Donne string together eight games in a row for Washington since 2019.
The Mystics, well, they're used to having to overcome adversity without her.
"We've been in this situation so many times, like this group has been together for a minute," Myisha Hines-Allen said postgame. "We have new pieces in but like for the most part, this group that we have, we've been in these type of situations. So we know just keep rolling."
"I think it's safe to say that it's a collective understanding and vocalness that we all have," Tianna Hawkins said in response to who steps up as a leader with the injuries. "I mean, we know that when one player goes down, we have to step up and do a little more. We don't have to do too much but just a little more to pick up the slack when a player goes down."
This time the Mystics were not able to overcome Connecticut, falling 92-84. Great showings by Hawkins (24 points, tying a career-high) and Hines-Allen (14 points off the bench) kept the team in contention until late in the final quarter.
Washington has managed to go 2-1 this year in games that Delle Donne was unavailable. Last season, the Mystics were 4-7 without her.
However, they've lost both games that she exited early.
"Absolutely not. We have everybody that we need in the locker room," Hines-Allen responded when if the team got down when Delle Donne left. "Doesn't matter who's playing, we're always going to step up. We're never gonna give up, we're gonna fight to the end. Of course, we do not want to see Elena go down. We need her on the court with us, but at the end of the day, some things that we can't control so we have to be able to adapt and play hard."
The injury bug continues to go around D.C. and the All-Star break could be a much-needed release for many on the roster. When Delle Donne left, they were back down to eight players - the same number they played with on Friday in a win.
They're already without Shakira Austin (hip, will be reevaluated over the next week), Kristi Toliver (plantar fasciitis, expected to return after the ASG break) and Natasha Cloud (ankle, has missed the last two games).
It's a tough stretch right now, but depending on the severity of Delle Donne's reaggravation, three players could be back by next week's games.
"We have a good mentality in general around whoever's available to play will play hard and compete," Thibault said. "Whether it's been Elena Tash, Shakira, Kristi, whoever (Li) Meng when Meng was gone, we've had a good steadiness about us. We got a group that is getting way better at playing through adversity within the game, not just injuries, but from one play to the next. And I think it's a frustrating position to be in for the players that are hurt most of all, but it will serve us well, I think, down the stretch once we get some reinforcements back."
