MINNEAPOLIS — There’s still no timeline on Courtney Vandersloot’s return. But progress for the Sky point guard is apparent.
At shootaround Sunday, Vandersloot ran through the team’s sets, looking indistinguishable from the active players. Afterward she stayed to play one-on-one against a player development coach.
“She’s getting really close,” head coach Tyler Marsh said. “She’s been working her way back progressively within the last few weeks from more of an on-court standpoint and contact standpoint.”
Vandersloot, 37, tore her ACL on June 7 of last season. Players typically take 9 to 12 months to recover, and she’s approaching the 12-month mark. At media day April 30, she said she feels like she’s entered a more mental phase of recovery.
“So much of it was physical early on, and now we’re getting to the point where the brain has to catch up with all the work,” Vandersloot said. “I finally feel like a basketball player again.”
Feedback on her play from teammates and coaches has been excellent. Rookie Aicha Coulibaly, who just returned from an ACL injury of her own, is impressed.
“She looks amazing,” Coulibaly told the Sun-Times. “Being somebody that went through the same thing from injuries, I know she’s gonna come and elevate this team.”
Marsh says the team looks instantly different when Vandersloot is able to step in — and expects a major impact this season.
“She’s got a chip on her shoulder to come back and feels like she has some things to prove,” he said.
Once she’s back, the Sky will have three seasoned ballhandlers in Vandersloot, Skylar Diggins and Natasha Cloud. How Marsh manages that backcourt rotation isn’t entirely clear. Diggins has expressed a desire to play more off the ball, and Marsh has talked about using Cloud as a “utility player” capable of playing anywhere.
Same boat for Sevens
Azurá Stevens is in a similar position as Vandersloot: still no exact return timeline, but making progress.
Marsh had hoped Stevens might be available for the road trip that ended in Minnesota, Stevens is once again ruled out against the Lynx.
“We’re not in a rush,” Marsh said on Friday. “We want her to be as healthy as possible. We want to take as much pressure off her to feel like she’s got to rush her rehab process to get back before she’s fully ready.”
Stevens is recovering from a minor stress injury in her left knee. Sky leading scorer Rickea Jackson is beginning to anticipate her return.
“We were just texting about it,” Jackson said. “Like, I can’t wait to have you out here to space the floor, have her out there shooting threes and just be who she is. Definitely miss her out there.”
Skylar Diggins questionable
Diggins was being evaluated during shootaround and is listed as questionable with an eye injury. She took a hit to the face in the second quarter of Friday’s game against the Mercury. Marsh said he believed the foul should have been upgraded to a flagrant.
