Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu returned to practice as full participants Monday after missing the Liberty’s first four games.
Sabally had been sidelined with a cyst, while Ionescu was out with a left foot injury she suffered during the team’s final preseason game.
Both players felt Monday was a step in the right direction.
“It was good,” Sabally said. “I feel like I’m just getting my wind back and happy to finally be on the court.”
Neither Sabally nor Ionescu knew whether they would make their season debuts Thursday against the Golden State Valkyries.
“Whenever the training staff tells me, ‘All right, you’re good to go,’” Sabally said. “I feel like I always want to just go 100 percent, so I feel like whenever they give me the green light, I’ll be there.”
Ionescu said she might be a game-time decision.
“I can’t make that decision yet,” she said. “I’m kind of just day by day seeing how I improve, how I feel, how it responds to what I do the day before.”
Sabally didn’t divulge details of what she went through over the past two weeks.
She missed the Liberty’s two preseason games for reconditioning purposes after lingering symptoms from a concussion she suffered in last year’s WNBA Finals disrupted her offseason.
Sabally was sidelined for all of Unrivaled and returned to basketball activities in March.
On the eve of the Liberty’s May 8 season opener, the team revealed Sabally was sidelined with a cyst. Coach Chris DeMarco later ruled her status as day to day.
Sabally didn’t travel with the team on its three-game road trip, which included stops in Washington, D.C., and Portland.
Sabally, who played three seasons at Oregon, wished she could have experienced the atmosphere at the Moda Center in Portland. She said it was “annoying” to be away from the team.
But she stayed in New York, where she focused on her recovery.
Sabally gave kudos to Portland for picking up the franchise’s first win while handing the Liberty their first loss.
But overall, she was pleased with the team’s 3-1 start.
“That second game [against Portland on Thursday] just showed how much we can bounce back, and how we adjust and how the game should have really looked like in the first one,” Sabally said.
“So I like seeing the adjustments from Game 1 to Game 2.”
The Liberty’s top priorities this offseason were re-signing Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. But Sabally was the team’s marquee free agent signing from outside the organization.
The three-time All-Star led the Mercury in scoring with 16.3 points per game and averaged 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals in 39 regular-season games.
Her size, length and versatility make her a perfect fit for the Liberty’s new system. Her focus now is ensuring her conditioning is where it needs to be to play.
“For me, it’s always just going through the reps that you’re used to but doing them with less fatigue and actually fighting through that fatigue once you hit it,” she said. “As an athlete, I feel you’re just accustomed to constantly having to get in better shape than you actually are so it’s really just having grace with yourself and working yourself back in.”
