Sunday's marquee matchup in the WNBA will be missing two of the league's biggest stars. Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner are sitting out the Phoenix Mercury's matchup with the New York Liberty at Barclays Center, dealing with nagging injuries.

Taurasi is sidelined by a hamstring injury while Griner will miss the action with a hip issue, per Crina Mustafa of Enjoy Basketball. Neither played in Phoenix's 88-69 loss to the Washington Mystics on Friday.

Though the Mercury have struggled early in the 2023 season, off to a league-worst 2-7 start, the absences of Taurasi and Griner rob women's basketball fans of the opportunity to see two future Hall-of-Famers battle with a stacked Liberty squad featuring Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones, among others. Star Liberty guard and reigning All-WNBA Second Team honoree Sabrina Ionescu will join Taurasi and Griner on the bench for Sunday's game, out with left hamstring soreness.

Griner hasn't played in New York since being released from a Russian prison last December. The eight-time All-Star was detained by local authorities at a Moscow airport in February 2022 due to carrying a vaporizer cartridge that contained hashish oil, a banned substance in Russia. Griner spent the next nine-and-a-half months at the center of a political and cultural firestorm, one that unfortunately didn't end upon her long-awaited return to the United States.

Liberty fans, thankfully, hopefully won't have to wait long to watch Griner in person at Barclays Center. Health provided, both she and Taurasi should be back on the floor when Phoenix returns to face New York on July 5th.