PORTLAND, Ore. — Talk about a bummer.
Oregon Ducks greats Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally are sidelined for the Liberty’s only trip to Portland this season.
Ionescu and Sabally didn’t play in the Liberty’s 98-96 loss to the Fire on Tuesday night and will not play in Thursday’s rematch.
Ionescu injured her left foot in the Liberty’s preseason finale May 3 and won’t be reevaluated until early next week. Though she won’t suit up, Ionescu did make the trip to Portland.
Meanwhile, Sabally has yet to make her Liberty debut after missing the team’s two preseason games for reconditioning purposes before being sidelined with a cyst. Sabally is considered day to day, coach Chris DeMarco previously said, but she didn’t join the team on its trip to Portland.
Ionescu had been campaigning for the WNBA to bring a team to Portland for quite some time and was ecstatic when the City of Roses was granted an expansion team in September 2024.
The Fire became the WNBA’s 15th franchise and joined the Toronto Tempo in embarking on their inaugural seasons this summer.
Though Fire fans hoped Ionescu would return to Oregon like a prodigal daughter, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 made a long-term commitment to the Liberty this offseason, signing a three-year deal that keeps her in New York through the 2028 season.
Sabally, who played alongside Ionescu at Oregon for three seasons, is signed through next season.
Ionescu did relish a homecoming a year ago when the Liberty played a preseason game at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.
But a chance to play a meaningful WNBA game in Oregon will likely have to wait another year. That would change only if the Fire were to make the playoffs in their first year, but that’s a long shot. Portland has the worst odds to make the postseason, per BetMGM.
Rebecca Allen participated in the Liberty’s shootaround Tuesday morning at Moda Center, but her season debut remains on hold as she deals with soreness in her left leg.
Allen missed both of the Liberty’s preseason games for reconditioning purposes.
Soreness in her leg flared up ahead of Thursday’s season opener.
She told reporters she thought she’d be ready by Sunday’s game at Washington, but that didn’t happen.
