Skylar Diggins will miss the remainder of the WNBA season to focus on recovering from an aggravated right knee injury, the Chicago Sky announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in full support of Skylar and want to make sure we are steadfastly prioritizing her health,\u201d Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said. \u201cSkylar made a strong effort to get back to the court this season. She\u2019s been in constant communication with us through the entire process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diggins said she\u2019s been in lockstep with the Sky throughout the season regarding her rehab. When the team was on the road, she would travel back to Notre Dame, where she played from 2009-2013, to work with a medical team there. Upon reevaluation, it was determined it would be best to \u201cscale back and shut it down for the season,\u201d Diggins said.<\/p>\n
The plan is for Diggins to continue doing biometric and biokinetic testing at Notre Dame as well as working with the Sky training staff during the FIBA World Cup break, which runs through Sept. 16.<\/p>\n
Diggins signed a two-year contract with the Sky in April valued at $1.86 million. She appeared in just 19 games as a starter, averaging 14.2 points and 4.9 assists. She has not appeared in a game since July, when she was relegated to coming off the bench.<\/p>\n
At the time, she responded with a post on her Instagram story saying, \u201cNow I\u2019m coming off the bench?????? Cool.\u201d Sky coach Tyler Marsh described her reserve role as a \u201ccoach\u2019s decision.\u201d Diggins was later listed on the Sky\u2019s injury report as out with a right knee injury and has remained sidelined.<\/p>\n
Diggins said Tuesday she had been playing through \u201ca lot\u201d before being moved to a bench role for the Sky. She had been undergoing testing on her right knee and was limited in practices and shootarounds. She said she was supposed to be on a minutes restriction as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t been feeling like myself out there,\u201d Diggins said. \u201cOur situation, whatever that was, whatever decision Tyler was making for me and with the organization, it\u2019s always been prioritizing my health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diggins had surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus in her right knee. She returned to the court in January playing with Unrivaled. But she said it\u2019s been an \u201cuphill battle\u201d to return to full health. She added that the load early in the season while the Sky were shorthanded contributed to a desire to push through \u201cuntil we were able to get those reinforcements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diggins was vocal about issues within the Sky organization, specifically about a lack of resources due to delays in the construction of the team\u2019s practice facility. In early July, she told local reporters, according to the Chicago Sun-Times: \u201cI\u2019ve been putting my body on the line. I\u2019m here for this team. I\u2019ve done everything that\u2019s been asked of me. I\u2019ve been great professionally. That\u2019s the decision that\u2019s made, and I\u2019ve got to live with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Diggins said she\u2019s had a lot of conversations with Marsh, Pagliocca and Sky principal owner Michael Alter. She characterized this season as a \u201cfrustrating experience for a lot of us\u201d because of what they felt the season could look like compared to the outcome.<\/p>\n
The Sky were eliminated from playoff contention on Aug. 23 after a loss to the Indiana Fever and will have just four games remaining when the WNBA resumes play on Sept. 17 after a two-week break for the FIBA World Cup.<\/p>\n
There was speculation that Diggins had requested a trade following her move to the bench. She dispelled those rumors Tuesday, saying trade talks were never on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cShutting it down for the season has nothing to do with next year,\u201d Diggins said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to see how the offseason goes, but we\u2019ve never had any talks with the organization and I about trades, or wanting a trade or anything like that during this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big reasons why we\u2019re shutting this down is to prioritize my health, for the future and for the future with this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diggins said while she hasn\u2019t expressed any desire to move on next year, she remains adamant that resources need to improve in Chicago. The Sky rotated between practice locations throughout the season, with Diggins adding that certain road trips were extended because the team didn\u2019t have anywhere to practice in Chicago, calling it the biggest frustration of the season.<\/p>\n
The Sky\u2019s new practice facility, which Diggins plans to tour next week, was delayed multiple times and is now scheduled to open in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith it being very unique and all the amenities we\u2019re planning to have there, I expect next year we won\u2019t lead the league in games missed to injuries,\u201d Diggins said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skylar Diggins will miss the remainder of the WNBA season to focus on recovering from an aggravated right…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[1497,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":["post-1038456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-chicago-sky","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117200404364386528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}