Sabrina Ionescu is set to make her official season debut on Sunday against the Dallas Wings, a return that gives the Liberty another key piece as they continue a stretch of seven consecutive home games. Ionescu missed the first five games of the season after rolling her left ankle in the preseason finale earlier this month, but she said the MRI the next day showed she avoided major injury.
“I could put weight on my foot, so I knew it wasn’t major, but it wasn’t not an injury,” Ionescu said Saturday after practice. She added that the issue had some structural damage, but “thankfully it responded really quickly,” and said she expected to play with a minute restriction on Sunday.
The guard’s return comes at a time when New York is still sorting out the early part of its season. The Liberty opened 3-2 while playing shorthanded and bringing pieces back into the rotation. Pauline Astier started all five games in Ionescu’s absence and averaged 14.8 points, four rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals, while the team also waived guard Julie Vanloo on Friday after signing her to a hardship contract at the start of the season.
Ionescu said the layoff did not leave her rattled. “I haven’t missed that much so I don’t think it’s a huge emotional rollercoaster,” she said. “It’s exciting for me to be able to play my kind of season opener. … So I’m excited. Feels like it’s been a while — it hasn’t — but it feels like it’s been forever just having to watch from the sidelines.” She also said, “I don’t feel like my cardio dipped at all,” adding, “That’s why you come in really, really good shape for stuff like this.”
The roster churn around Ionescu has not slowed. Satou Sabally made her season debut in Thursday’s 87-70 loss to the Valkyries after dealing with discomfort from a cyst, and Raquel Carrera was expected to make her WNBA debut Sunday. Leonie Fiebich could make her season debut as soon as Monday against the Portland Fire. The Liberty’s early weeks have been less about finding a rhythm than surviving one injury and reintegrating the next body, a challenge that has forced the team to keep adjusting on the fly.
Ionescu said the loss on Thursday sharpened the focus even more. “Any time you lose, there’s a little bit of a heightened sense of, ‘We got to continue to hone in on the things we got to work on,’” she said. For New York, the next step is not just getting Ionescu back. It is figuring out how quickly the pieces already in motion can start to fit together.
