NEW YORK (AP) - Sabrina Ionescu is headed to New York to see an ankle and foot specialist the team announced Wednesday.
The No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft was diagnosed with a Grade 3 left ankle sprain after getting hurt in the second quarter against Atlanta last Friday.
X-rays taken at a hospital came back negative but an MRI revealed the sprain, according to the team. A Grade 3 sprain is the most severe and usually requires months to heal fully as it’s a full tear of the ankle ligament. This level of sprain causes severe pain, swelling and bruising.
Liberty owner Joe Tsai tweeted after his young star got hurt that the team would “provide the best care for Sabrina. She will come back stronger.”
Ionescu played in only 2 1/2 games this season and might be hard-pressed to return with the WNBA playing a truncated season with only 19 games left over the next 6 weeks.
Ionescu missed only four games her freshman season during her college career at Oregon . She played every game after that en route to shattering the NCAA career triple-double mark (for both men and women) with 26 and became the first player in college history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.
While the WNBA set up a “clean corridor” for players to go to a hospital in Florida to receive care without having to go back into quarantine when they returned to IMG Academy, Ionescu would have to quarantine again for a few days once she gets back to Florida.
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