Shakira Austin Out For At Least Three Weeks With Hip Injury
Shakira Austin, a 22-year-old center for the Washington Mystics, suffered a left hip strain during Sunday’s 89-88 overtime defeat against the New York Liberty and will be sidelined for at least three weeks.
Shakira Austin Out For At Least Three Weeks With Hip Injury After Her Terrifying Accident
Shakira Austin, a 22-year-old center for the Washington Mystics, suffered a left hip strain during Sunday’s 89-88 overtime defeat against the New York Liberty and will be sidelined for at least three weeks.
After three weeks, she will be reassessed “to better determine her return to play timeline,” the team said on Tuesday.
She was hurt early in the fourth quarter and had to be helped off the floor. Near midcourt, she intercepted a pass from Sabrina Ionescu by tipping it for a steal before falling awkwardly and incurring a severe tumble.
She stayed on the court while clutching her upper hamstring before being helped off by a trainer and colleague, Natasha Cloud.
Before leaving the game after 22 minutes, Shakira Austin had accumulated six points and five rebounds. She has played in 13 games this season, averaging 11.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.
The Mystics made her their own with the third overall choice in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
“When Kira came in, she was my rookie; that’s my little baby.”
“So during the time of kind of craziness and her being scared, I can at least have some comfort in that time for her.”
Natasha Cloud
Since the start of her professional career seven years ago, Cloud has competed with the Mystics, joining the squad in 2019 to win a championship.
Austin’s fall had alarmed everyone in the stadium, including the guard, who had expressed worry. As she entered the dressing room, there was thunderous clapping for her.
Cloud went on to explain why she decided to assist Austin outside of court:
“I know that’s not typical.”
“But again, I feel like in the moment of when one of our players — you’re talking about just the game of basketball. You’re talking about a young woman that just went down and obviously, we won’t have any updates or anything like that, but someone that is crying and kind of scared. Yeah, I’m the point guard of this team. I feel like I can carry her to the side and kind of poise her and talk to her as I’m going off.”
With a right knee injury that did not cause her to miss any time, Austin departed last week’s victory over the Phoenix Mercury. For much of her career, this has been the case.
According to NBC Sports Washington, she hasn’t missed a game while playing collegiate basketball for Maryland and Ole Miss in the past five years. Due to their continuous availability, she and Ariel Atkins were the only Mystics to play all 36 games during the previous season.
Elena Delle Donne, a two-time MVP with the Mystics, still plays in the post. However, it’s anticipated that the guards, Li Meng and Kristi Oliver, will miss some time in the coming days. Meng plays for Team China until early July, while Oliver is out for at least another week with plantar fasciitis.
