NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu is ready to make her season debut for New York after suffering a foot injury in the preseason.
The Liberty’s star guard practiced Saturday and said afterward she’s good to go against Dallas on Sunday.
“It’s exciting to me,” Ionescu said after practice. “I haven’t had a regular-season game yet, so I’m excited. It feels like it’s been a while. It hasn’t, but it feels like it’s been forever having to watch from the sidelines.”
Ionescu, who averaged 18.2 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds last season, knew the injury wasn’t major when she went down against Connecticut on May 3, but that it was going to cost her some time.
“I knew I was going to be out for a little bit, and thankfully, I came back a lot sooner than I was supposed to with returning now,” she said. “So I’m really excited about that. I had some structural damage, but thankfully it responded quickly, came back. It was nothing that was going to sideline me or need surgery.”
Coach Chris DeMarco said Ionescu would be on a minutes restriction and with New York playing back-to-back games, he wasn’t sure if she would also play on Monday against Portland. The Liberty were 3-2 without Ionescu and are in the midst of a seven-game homestand.
While Ionescu is back, New York is still missing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton who is out for personal reasons. DeMarco said she wouldn’t play Sunday. She was practicing Saturday when reporters could watch.
New York is finally getting completely healthy. Satou Sabally made her season debut in Thursday’s loss to Golden State. Leonie Fiebich was taking shots after practice as she just got to New York after winning a championship in a Spanish League.
Raquel Carrera is ready to make her debut The Spanish forward was drafted by Atlanta in 2021 and traded to New York the next season. She’s been playing overseas the past few years, but finally is in the WNBA.
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