New York Liberty forward Satou Sabally out for the season to recover from concussion

Satou Sabally’s first season with the New York Liberty is over as the team announced Thursday that she’s out for the remainder of the season.

Sabally has been sidelined since suffering a concussion on June 23 against the Las Vegas Aces. Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said a few weeks ago that Sabally was going to take some time away from the team to recover.

It was her second concussion in the past year. Sabally came to New York as a free agent this past offseason.

Sabally played in just 13 games this season and averaged 10.4 points and 2.8 assists. She suffered her first concussion in the WNBA Finals last season while playing with Phoenix.

She was going to be one of the centerpieces of the German national team which is hosting the FIBA World Cup that begins Friday, but said a few weeks ago she would have to miss it.

“I’m sad for her because it has been a dream of hers. We’re not going to have another World Cup in Berlin during her career,” German coach Olaf Lange said. “She’s still dealing with parts of (the concussion) so I just hope that she’ll be okay. I’m hopeful she’ll be herself again very soon.”

Nyara Sabally will be playing for Germany and was sad that her sister won’t able to.

“It’s a loss that you can’t really deal with. I think the whole team is behind her,” Nyara Sabally said. “She was looking forward to it for the past five years so it’s upsetting obviously, but I know she’ll be watching and cheering us on.”

New York has clinched a playoff spot and is still battling for postseason positioning. The WNBA is currently on a two-week break for the World Cup and the Liberty has four games remaining when play resumes.

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