Shortly after the Sky beat the Storm in Saturday’s home opener, Spanish-Senegalese center Astou Ndour boarded a plane. Her next stop was Spain.
Ndour arrived Monday at a hotel in Zaragoza, Spain, to join her native country’s national women’s basketball team.
Sky center Astou Ndour joins Spain National team for EuroBasket. ⬇️ https://t.co/wUoZ9ia5lK
— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) June 4, 2019
Ndour is expected to miss several weeks as Spain’s national team’s preparation for the 2019 EuroBasket tournament ramps up.
Coach James Wade believes Ndour is the only Sky player who will participate in this year’s tournament, which runs June 27 through July 7.
In her two games with the Sky this season, Ndour hasn’t missed any of her four shots from the field in 13 minutes of playing time. She’s averaged 4.5 points per game.
“We’re going to miss her length and her athleticism,” Wade said Tuesday after practice. “We’re just going to miss her and who she is. She gives us all those dimensions. She gives us another player with experience. She played well the last game before she left. So it was good to get her on the floor, have her on the floor, so we’re going to miss her.”
With Ndour gone for the next few weeks, the Sky have the cap flexibility to sign another player. However, Wade would prefer a boost from within rather than scouring the wires to sign an extra player.
“Right now, we’re just going to see what we can do as far as developing the players that we have and if we need someone, we’ll probably call on someone,” Wade said. “But right now, it’s not something we’re really worrying about.”
When the time comes (if ever), the Sky could turn to forward Victoria Macaulay as a potential candidate to fill Ndour’s void.
Macaulay, who was waived three days before the Sky opened their season against the Lynx last month, was praised for her preparedness for training camp. She impressed Wade’s staff and scored 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the Sky’s second preseason game against the Fever last month.
Rookies sit
Rookies Katie Lou Samuelson and Chloe Jackson rode the bench for last Saturday’s home opener.
Wade has stood by his decision to bench them, saying they can learn from watching experienced players on the court.
Don’t expect the rookie benching to be a common occurrence this season. Wade said he plans to play Samuelson in Wednesday’s game against the Mystics.
Faulkner returns to practice
Point guard Jamierra Faulkner took the next step in her recovery from a torn ACL in her right knee.
Faulkner, who has been out since last July, was limited in practice on Tuesday. She participated in several drills and ran plays against the practice team.
Though Faulkner previously said she would return in the latter part of June, Wade said he expects her to be back in July.
“She can’t do all the practices,” Wade said. “We have her going up and down but you can see that she’s limited. So she’s not ready to play any time soon.”
