The Dallas Wings were never going to be championship contenders this season and their recent spate of injuries have made it hard for the team to even take some momentum into the offseason.
That task just got tougher, not just because of their 96-71 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Monday, but also for even more rough injury news the next morning. The Wings announced Tuesday that Luisa Geiselsoder will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. She had already missed Dallas' previous two games.
Before her injury, Geiselsoder was a consistent contributor in the starting lineup, averaging 6.9 points and 4.8 rebounds over 28 games.
The Wings have lost eight games in a row and 14 of their last 15 with three games remaining. Headed into the Lynx game, Dallas had eight players on its injury report, including Geiselsoder, who was still listed as day-to-day. Li Yueru, JJ Quinerly, Arike Ogunbowale, Haley Jones and Ty Harris all joined her as unavailable. Paige Bueckers played her second straight game amid an illness.
Wings make 2 moves to combat injuries
While the Wings' injury report continues to grow, the team made a pair of moves to get some fresh bodies on the court as they finish the season. Dallas signed Ajae Petty to a seven-day hardship contract and re-signed Serena Sundell to a second seven-day hardship deal.
Sundell has played three games for the Wings this season, tallying 21 total minutes, though she has failed to enter the scoring column. Petty is in her first WNBA season after finishing her college career at Ohio State. She will have a chance to make her pro debut when the Wings visit the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday.
Those moves follow another rush of transactions that Dallas made before its loss to the Atlanta Dream last week. The Wings signed Christyn Williams, former UConn teammate of the Dallas rookie Bueckers, and extended another seven-day contract to Amy Okonkwo before that one. That brought the Wings up to eight active players — the minimum needed to play a game in the WNBA.
As Dallas continues to struggle to even field a team, it does have a chance to play spoiler. The Valkyries are clinging to the 6 seed in the playoffs but are just a half-game out of the 8 spot. After playing Golden State, the Wings will visit the Los Angeles Sparks, the first team currently out of the playoff picture.
