Wings' heroine Li grounded by injury

The cruel nature of competitive sports has taken its toll on Chinese basketball again, after the season of the country's sole WNBA representative Li Yueru was cut short by a left knee injury.

The 26-year-old Chinese center, who joined the Dallas Wings in a midseason trade from the Seattle Storm, was forced to leave a game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug 15 after suffering an apparent knee injury. She was then ruled out of Dallas' following game on Sunday, before the Wings announced on Tuesday that she will miss the rest of the season with an ACL sprain.

The sudden injury has curtailed Li's resurgence at a critical moment in her WNBA career, as she seemed to have just hit her stride with the struggling Wings, the West's bottom team with a 9-27 record as of Wednesday, by scoring a career-high 20 points against the Indiana Fever on Aug 12 to help snap Dallas' five-game skid.

Chris Koclanes, head coach of the Wings, admitted Li's injury would affect the team a lot, particularly in rebounding and rim protection.

"Just a little less size now. She was coming off that great game against Indy, and her and Myisha (Hines-Allen) really found that high-low game inside-out that was working," Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com on Tuesday.

"But, we can still find mismatches and play inside-out. Defensively though, it maybe allows us to be a little more versatile, with some more switching lineups if we're putting a lot of players out there of similar sizes."

Since joining the franchise on June 14, Li has suited up in 22 games for the Wings, including 12 starts, averaging 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds to help the team clinch eight of its total nine wins so far this regular season.

After further tests, initial reports indicated that Li would be out for "at least six weeks", according to a team announcement.

"Yueru is expected to make a full recovery. Additional updates will be provided when appropriate," the Dallas Wings posted on X on Wednesday.

Now, with just three weeks left remaining in the regular season, the injury-blown Wings, which also have four-time All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale sidelined with a knee injury, will, for sure, miss Li's contribution off the bench, due to the team's lack of roster depth in the paint.

The Wings' growing injury list, which has also seen young guard Aziaha James sidelined, has forced Dallas to play more than 70 percent of its games with 10 or fewer players available, and more than 30 percent with nine or fewer.

The beleaguered franchise's disappointing season looks beyond salvation, despite star rookie Paige Bueckers' explosive individual performances, averaging 19.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.