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Patience is a virtue, and it may be the key in dealing with Breanna Stewart’s New York Liberty status.
Head coach Sandy Brondello offered an update on Stewart’s health leading into the Liberty’s first WNBA Finals rematch against the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), hinting at an undetermined absence that could run to the cusp of the regular season.
“She has a right knee bone bruise, and there’s no ligament damage … obviously we escaped major injury there,” Brondello said. “Her timetable is to be determined, to be quite honest, we’ll just see. Hopefully she recovers well, so we’re prepared. We want to make sure that she’s right for the playoffs, but hopefully we can get it back sooner than that.”
Stewart, who has already been ruled out for Wednesday night’s game, left Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks before the midway mark of the first half with what was described as a leg issue. She then missed Monday’s loss in Dallas entirely and Isabelle Harrison started in her place.
Though unwilling to place a concrete timeline on the All-Star’s medically-induced departure, Brondello touched back on Stewart’s ailment in a follow-up, reiterating that the team would not rush her back.
“We want to be smart with it. She knows her body really well,” Brondello said. “If we can get her back by the end of August, I think that’s great. I think, for her, she’d want to get some rhythm before we get back. But I think it’s big picture. We’re making sure we bring her back when she’s ready, and she’ll do the work.”
“No one works as hard as she does in the recovery and the preparation, so when she’s ready [she’s ready]. Timetable to be determined. I don’t really know, but, keep it fresh for the playoffs. I know she’ll be back before then … how early she gets back, before the end of season, I don’t know.”
New York (17-8) has endured a slew of injuries as the heat turns up on its championship defense: depth stars Kennedy Burke and Nyara Sabally will also sit out on Tuesday, with the former’s two-to-four week absence reported by Madeline Kenney of the New York Post confirmed by Brondello on Wednesday.
Time will tell if the Liberty will have Stewart’s fellow starter Natasha Cloud available in the first of four Finals rematches between now and Aug. 19: listed as questionable on the Wednesday injury report, the first-year New Yorker has been dealing with an illness and will take warmups before her status is officially determined.
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