The Phoenix Mercury have already been dealt an enormous blow.
In the future earlier than the beginning of the 2024 WNBA common season, the Mercury introduced that middle Brittney Griner has a fractured toe and “shall be out and re-evaluated within the coming weeks.”
Final season, Griner averaged 17.5 factors, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 blocks per recreation, reaching the All-Star recreation for the eighth time.
Griner’s absence is a significant loss for the Mercury, which play the two-time defending champion Aces of their season opener on Tuesday.
Aces middle A’ja Wilson ought to have a big benefit within the paint. Final season, she completed second within the league in rebounds (9.5) and first in blocks (2.2) per recreation. The Mercury lack dimension behind Griner on their depth chart; 6-foot-5 ahead Liz Dixon is the crew’s second-tallest participant and solely appeared in 10 video games final season, averaging 5.6 minutes per recreation.
Phoenix already had an uphill climb towards Las Vegas with Griner, however with out the two-time Defensive Participant of the 12 months, its probabilities of pulling off the upset obtained a lot smaller.
Griner mentioned her significance to the crew earlier this preseason.
“I wanna be the defensive participant of the yr. I need that title,” Griner stated earlier than including, “If I try this, our crew’s going to win.”
Per Motion Community, the Aces opened as a 13.5-point favourite, however the unfold has grown to as giant as 16.5 factors at some sportsbooks following Griner’s harm announcement.
