Sabrina Ionescu wants a second rookie year after an injury ended her first season 3 games in, but the WNBA won't budge
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The New York Liberty took Sabrina Ionescu with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft.
The Oregon star showed promise, but her rookie season was cut short after 2 games due to an injury.
Ionescu told Insider she thinks she should be a rookie again this year, but the WNBA disagrees.
Sabrina Ionescu only played two full games before her first WNBA season came to a devastating halt.
Now, almost a full year later, the 23-year-old New York Liberty superstar thinks she deserves a new rookie year.
But the league has other plans.
"I don't think that they allowed me to be classified as a rookie again because I played two games," Ionescu told Insider. "But I am referring to myself as this as being my first year, because I played two games."
Though her 2020 season in the WNBA bubble was cut short, the number-one overall draft pick showed promise in the 78 minutes she spent on the court. She posted 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists in her league debut against a Seattle storm squad led by superstars Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart. The Storm went on to become the WNBA champions.
Ionescu's performance in her next game hearkened back to her days as an Oregon Ducks superstar. In college, she was the NCAA's reigning triple-double queen and became the first player - man or woman - in Division I history to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
In a matchup against the Dallas Wings four days after her WNBA debut, Ionescu erupted for 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the floor and 60% shooting from beyond the arc. With seven rebounds and seven dimes to boot, the young point guard became the first Liberty player to record a 30-5-5 stat line in the last five seasons.
But 12 minutes into the next game after that, Ionescu turned her left ankle while dribbling upcourt and fell to the hardwood. She hobbled off the court with the help of her teammates and did not return.
Medical staff diagnosed Ionescu with a Grade 3 sprain, and she left the WNBA's bubble in Florida to see a specialist in New York and rehab. Her rookie season was officially over.
Ionescu told Insider that she feels like she missed out on many of the experiences characteristic of a typical rookie season. She didn't get a chance to face 75% of the league's teams and the vast majority of its players. Nor did she get the opportunity to compete for Rookie of the Year, an award many expected she'd win.
But the WNBA classifies its rookies in identical fashion to the NBA. As soon as a player steps on the court in an official league game, they are considered to have played that season. Ionescu would not be considered a rookie this year even if she had suffered a season-ending injury one minute into her debut game.
"For me, this is my first year," Ionescu said while discussing a campaign she's doing for Bodyarmor. "But for the league, I guess it's not, which doesn't really make a lot of sense."
Ionescu is looking ahead, though. Nine months after sustaining her injury - and nearly six months since she had surgery on the ankle - she's officially living in New York and prepping for the 2021 season with the Liberty.
"I'm definitely excited to get back on the court and start playing again," Ionescu said. "I've been awaiting this time for a while now after being hurt last season. So I'm really excited to just start playing, for games to start, and fans to be in the arena."
Read the original article on Insider
