Brittney Sykes is active for Tuesday night's game against the Indiana Fever, ending an absence of about two months after a left plantar fascia injury in her foot. She had not played since June 16, when her most recent game came against the Indiana Fever.
That return matters because Sykes was giving Toronto 20.1 points per game before she went down, and the team has been trying to stop a slide that has reached 10 straight losses and 14 defeats in its past 15 games. Toronto entered Tuesday at 10-23, so getting her back gives the offense a scorer it has been missing for most of the summer.
Brondello said at shootaround that she wanted Sykes to go and play with joy, and said her presence would lift the team's confidence. The message fits the moment: Toronto is getting a proven scorer back, but not a fully rebuilt roster or a clean reset. Sykes was initially expected to miss the rest of the season, which makes the fact that she is back on the floor more striking than the timing itself.
Even so, this is not a full return to normal. Sykes is expected to be on a minutes restriction Tuesday night, which means Toronto will have to manage her workload and decide how much it can ask of her right away. That leaves the real question for the night centered less on whether she plays and more on how much she can give the team before the restriction starts to matter.
Indiana comes in with a game at Toronto on Tuesday night and an upcoming stretch that includes Dallas on Thursday and New York on Saturday. For Toronto, the immediate gain is simple: Sykes is back, and after two months away the team finally has its top scoring threat available again, even if only in controlled bursts.
