Sky coach/GM James Wade’s frontcourt took another hit Wednesday with the news that Isabelle Harrison will miss the team’s opening games against the Lynx on Friday and Mercury on Sunday.
The update came from the team following a social media post that has since been deleted from Harrison’s mother stating the Sky’s new forward is awaiting surgery for a meniscus repair on Friday.
“I’m not reporting on Izzy’s mom,” Wade said. “If you want to ask my mom a question about Izzy’s mom, but we have certain steps that we do here.”
While Wade did not comment on whether or not Harrison is, in fact, slated to have surgery on her meniscus, he did acknowledge that she is out with an injury. Wade previously stated that her absence from the team going back to last week’s media day was not injury related.
In response to a question Tuesday asking if Harrison’s absence was still not considered an injury issue, Wade said, “I think everything that we’ve said. We want it to remain in-house until we have all of the information.”
Wednesday afternoon, Wade clarified that the update he provided a week ago was due to his lack of information on her status at the time. He also explained that his response to questions Tuesday following up on her status was meant to communicate that Harrison’s availability will remain within the organization until she is ready to make a statement.
“Izzy’s out,” Wade said. “We want to respect that. She hasn’t made a statement, so we haven’t made a statement. We’re not going to make a statement until we’re ready to make one. That’s it.”
The Sky open the season on the road against the Lynx Friday.
Per league policy, the team will be required to make injury reports available during the season the day before games at 5 p.m. local time. On the second day of back-to-back games, the team is required to report by 1 p.m. local time. But this report is only required to include players’ participation status. Detail as far as specific injuries players are dealing with do not have to be included.
Wade was adamant that the team will not be providing a timeline for Harrison’s return.
“I don’t have anything,” Wade said. “That means don’t ask about it, alright? We want to respect our timeline so that’s why we are not commenting on Izzy, the same way we are not commenting on Li [Yueru].”
Through training camp, the Sky’s frontcourt has battled injuries.
Li has not participated in any basketball activities with the team after arriving to camp with a lower extremity injury. During the Sky’s preseason game against the Fever, Elizabeth Williams was sent to the floor attempting to block a shot and subsequently entered concussion protocols.
Wednesday, she was back participating with the team and fully cleared to play this weekend. Another player that made her debut on the Sky’s practice floor Wednesday was guard Marina Mabrey. At the conclusion of practice, she said it was good to get on the floor with her new teammates. She laughed when adding she felt a bit winded after her first full practice.
Harrison’s absence, along with Li and Ruthy Hebard, who is still working her way back after giving birth on April 11, leaves the Sky with seven available players. How Wade fields his full 11-12 player roster remains to be seen, but he has multiple options.
He has four training camp players remaining on his roster after waiving guards Feyonda Fitzgerald and Kayana Traylor Wednesday. The league’s waiver wires will also be a viable option for filling out his roster. Wade said Tuesday that players’ current status will not impact his final roster. This could indicate he will look to utilize the league’s hardship exception instead of, say, suspending a player's contract in favor of freeing up the cap space to sign someone else for the entire season.
Whether or not Wade acknowledges the impact, the absence of Harrison and Hebard specifically will be felt as his team opens the season with an almost entirely new roster.
