Kalani

Brown

Sabally left Wednesday night’s Game 3 of the WNBA Finals with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter. Her head collided with the leg of Aces forward Kiersten Bell as Sabally and Aces guard Jackie Young were fighting for a rebound. Young was assessed a personal foul for tangling up Sabally’s arm, but Bell’s contact with Sabally’s head was accidental. After Sabally was down for around 10 minutes on the ground following the collision, she left the floor with some help from teammate Kalani Brown and a member of the Mercury’s training staff. The injury is a major blow for the Mercury as they will enter Game 4 on Friday down 3-0 in an elimination game of best of seven series without one of their stars available to play. With Sabally out for Game 4, expect DeWanna Bonner to start in her place and for stretch big Kathryn Westbeld to get some more run off the bench.

Brown had her most productive evening scoring the basketball since July 16 when the Mercury played the Lynx and lost 79-66 and she scored 11 points in over 19 minutes of play. All of Brown’s five field goals were assisted as four different players found her. Her former Dallas Wings teammate Satou Sabally executed pick-and-roll actions with Brown in addition to Alyssa Thomas and Kianna Williams finding Brown near the rim. Kathryn Westbeld kicked the ball out to Brown for a three-pointer, Brown’s third made three-pointer of the season.

Sabally led the Mercury in scoring in a game her team had little motivation to win. She scored at all three levels on Thursday night including two deep threes on assists from Alyssa Thomas and Monique Akoa Makani. Sabally also hit a 12-foot jumper on one foot over Paige Bueckers in addition to scoring the basketball as a driver. Sabally also had five assists in her final regular season game, her highest amount since she had six on August 19 against the Valkyries. She found Kahleah Copper for a bunch of three-pointers in addition to acting like the point forward while Alyssa Thomas wasn’t on the floor when she was able to find Kathryn Westbeld and Kalani Brown rolling to the basket.

Sabally is back after missing Sunday’s win over the Sky for personal reasons. Her return means Kalani Brown will head to the bench after grabbing nine rebounds as a spot starter against Chicago. Fantasy managers with Sabally rostered must ensure she’s in their active lineups before tipoff.

Due to Satou Sabally being away from the team for personal reasons and the Sky starting Kamilla Cardoso at center, the Mercury gave Brown her first start of the season. While she did not offer much value as a scorer, the Mercury center did a good job on the glass in her 18 minutes on the court. Brown did fall out of the rotation before Sunday, but there may be a consistent role for her if Sabally remains away from the team. Phoenix returns home to host Connecticut on Tuesday.

Following Friday’s blowout loss to the Dream, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts has made two changes to his starting lineup. Whitcomb and Brown are in, with Kathryn Westbeld moving to the bench and Satou Sabally out for personal reasons. Of the two starters, Whitcomb offers a far higher streaming ceiling in this matchup.

For the most part, Brown hasn’t been much of a factor in fantasy basketball this season. However, she was fantastic in just 19 minutes against Minnesota, recording her first double-double of the season and contributing three defensive stats in a limited role. It was an impressive showing, but don’t expect this to become the norm for Brown, who has played just 13.9 minutes per game this season.

Musa recently suffered a right ankle injury, which is why she appeared on the Mercury’s injury report. Her absence does not significantly impact Phoenix’s frontcourt rotation, as Kalani Brown and Natasha Mack already play more minutes off the bench than Musa.

Thomas played a major role in getting the Mercury back into the game in the fourth quarter when they trailed by as many as nine points at the beginning of the quarter. She scored an and-one after rebounding and driving the ball coast-to-coast in transition to tie the game up at 62 with 7:06 remaining in regulation. Thomas followed that by scoring back-to-back Mercury field goals a couple of minutes later, and found Kalani Brown and then Satou Sabally near the rim to keep the game within a score with under two minutes left. Thomas also passed former player Michelle Snow for 15th on the WNBA’s All-Time rebounds list during the third quarter.

Brown, who will miss a second straight game due to illness, did not travel with the team to Las Vegas. The good news for the Mercury is that they have the depth needed to compensate for the backup center’s absence, as Natasha Mack made her season debut on Wednesday after missing time with a back injury. She’ll absorb the minutes that would have gone to Brown.