{"id":82401,"date":"2025-07-22T05:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T05:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/82401\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T05:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T05:44:09","slug":"lexi-held-working-toward-resuming-her-wnba-rookie-season-after-injury-put-her-out-of-action-for-several-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/82401\/","title":{"rendered":"Lexi Held working toward resuming her WNBA rookie season after injury put her out of action for several weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Terry Boehmker<\/strong>
NKyTribune sports reporter<\/p>\n

The injury that put Lexi Held\u2019s first season in the WNBA on hold five weeks ago made her appreciate being on a team that has been supportive during her\u2028painstaking recovery.<\/p>\n

When the Phoenix Mercury resumed practice Monday after the WNBA All-Star\u2028Game, the Cooper High School graduate expressed her gratitude during an \u2028interview with Desert Wave Media<\/strong><\/a> that was posted online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, it made me more grateful to be here because you really see an \u2028organization\u2019s true colors when you\u2019re hurt because you can\u2019t be super useful to\u2028them in the moment when you\u2019re not playing,\u201d Held said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lexi Held was averaging 20 minutes per game off the bench for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury before an injury put her out of action.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really get to get a good idea of who they are and what they really are about,\u2028and nothing changed with the people here regarding how they treated me and\u2028how they viewed me. It was all the same as when I was playing my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Held, 25, got off to an impressive start as an undrafted WNBA rookie after playing women\u2019s professional basketball overseas.\u2028The 5-foot-10 guard was a double-figure scorer in five of the Mercury\u2019s first seven games in June. In one of those games, she netted a season-high 24 points, the most\u2028by a rookie player at that point in the 2025 WNBA season.<\/p>\n

Held was averaging 8.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.4 assists off the bench\u2028for Phoenix when she suffered a partially collapsed lung in a collision with another player\u2028during an away game against the New York Liberty on June 19.<\/p>\n

She had to return to Phoenix by train with a team physical therapist because doctors didn\u2019t want her injured lung\u2028subjected to changing air pressure and high altitude in an airplane. She said it took several weeks for the pain to subside and she recently resumed training.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In June, Lexi Held was a double-figure scorer in five of her team\u2019s first seven games, including a season-high 24 points on June 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started pretty gradual about a week and a half, two weeks ago,\u201d she said in the online interview. \u201cI\u2028just started really slow, monitoring everything, and then we got to ramp it up the\u2028last couple days and it feels good, I feel really good physically so I\u2019m super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Held is not expected to play Wednesday when Phoenix starts the second half of \u2028its schedule at home against the Atlanta Dream. That will be the eighth consecutive game she has missed.<\/p>\n

Despite injuries to Held and some of her teammates, Phoenix has the third-best\u2028record in the WNBA at 15-7 and is second in the Western Conference standings\u2028behind Minnesota (20-4).<\/p>\n

The Mercury have a game against the Indiana Fever on July 30 in Indianapolis. \u2028If Held is back in action by then, it would give her family and friends in Northern Kentucky\u2028a chance to see her play in a WNBA venue that\u2019s not too far from home.<\/p>\n

When Phoenix visits the Chicago Sky on Aug. 3, Held would be a draw for DePaul University fans in that city. She started 89 consecutive games over three seasons for the Blue Demons. Those teams compiled a 64-26 record with her in the lineup.<\/p>\n

A 2018 graduate of Cooper High School, Held scored more than 2,430 points during her varsity career and finished her senior season with the state\u2019s second highest scoring average at 28.3 points per game.<\/p>\n

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