The Washington Mystics provided an update on injured center Shakira Austin on Tuesday, announcing she'll be out for at least three weeks after suffering a left hip strain in Sunday's loss to the New York Liberty. Austin was carried to the locker room after tipping a pass and landing on her hip. She had six points and five assists in 22 minutes before leaving the game.

Austin started each of the Mystics' first 13 games this season, averaging 11.4 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. She has five double-doubles and is shooting 50.8% from the field.

The Mystics selected Austin with the third overall pick in last year's WNBA draft. She played in all 36 regular season games as a rookie, starting 32 of them. She averaged 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, recording four double-doubles. Austin was named to the WNBA All-Rookie team for her efforts.

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The Mystics are 8-5 this season and are in fourth place in the WNBA standings. They had won three games in a row before dropping Sunday's game in overtime to the Liberty.

Washington has some options to replace Austin in the starting lineup during her abscence. Amanda Zahui B. is the only other center on the roster and has started 71 games in her WNBA career but has played sparringly this season, averaging 5.9 minutes per game across nine contests.

The liklier option is inserting forward Tianna Hawkins into the starting lineup. Hawkins played in every game so far for the Mystics ans is avergaing 4.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Her 45.6 field-goal percentage this season is her best since 2019.