Forward Katie Lou Samuelson is out indefinitely with a right wrist injury and won’t play Tuesday against the Phoenix Mercury at Wintrust Arena.
Samuelson plopped down on a folding chair court side toward the end of shoot around Tuesday morning. The fourth overall pick was sporting a black hard cast on her shooting arm.
Katie Lou Samuelson has a cast on her right hand. pic.twitter.com/jZzjlzzfsd
— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) June 11, 2019
Coach James Wade said Samuelson underwent some testing Tuesday, but he wouldn’t have the results until after the game.
Samuelson — who has battled injuries throughout her career, including two foot injuries at UConn — hurt her wrist while taking a charge in the second quarter of the win over the Storm on Sunday. She didn’t return to the game after the incident.
The injury came at an unfortunate time for Samuelson, who appeared to have been turning the corner in her development. After playing 18 minutes in the Sky’s season opener last month, Wade benched Samuelson for the second game.
Wade called his decision not to play Samuelson as a learning moment for the young rookie. Meanwhile, Samuelson, who is averaging 2.3 points and 13.3 minutes through three games, said she was trying to not take the move personally.
“For me, I’m trying to figure out different roles and the way I fit in with this team,” she recently told the Sun-Times. “It takes some time. There’s going to be some ups and downs, so I’m just staying positive and going to be ready for whatever whenever I’m called on.”
Samuelson’s injury is the latest hit to the Sky’s bench. Back-up point guard Jamierra Faulkner is recovering from a knee injury and center Astou Ndour is overseas playing for Spain’s national team in this month’s EuroBasket tournament.
With the trio out for the foreseeable future, the Sky are down to just nine active players. Wade is looking for the rest of the bench to step up with the trio’s absences, but he’s also looking for reinforcements from the outside.
“We’re probably in that phase looking at people we can potentially bring in,” Wade said. “That said, we feel good with the team we have. It’s time for the other bench players to step up.”
Samuelson has primarily been playing as a power forward. The Sky will likely give some of her minutes to Kahleah Copper, who is shooting 45.8 percent from the field. Wade might also turn to guard/forward Gabby Williams, who has been point guard Courtney Vandersloot’s back up. With Williams back in the frontcourt rotation, the Sky could use second-round pick Chloe Jackson, who didn’t play in either of the Sky’s two home games this season.
