The Atlanta Dream will be without their star rookie, Chennedy Carter, for approximately two weeks due to an ankle injury she sustained in the team's loss to the Connecticut Sun on Monday night.
Early in the first quarter, Carter tried to drive to the basket and was crushed by Brionna Jones. It's hard to tell exactly what happened, but Carter clearly got her legs tangled up in the awkward fall and immediately hobbled off the floor, and back to the locker room.
chennedy carter hobbled off the court after taking this tough hit early in the first quarter
— jack maloney (@jackmaloneycbs) August 10, 2020
dream announced she will not return to the game due to an ankle injury pic.twitter.com/WSCapOLuBn
This is a big blow for Carter, the Dream and fans of the WNBA in general. No one ever wants to be injured, but missing two weeks because of an ankle injury in a normal season would be a pretty minor setback in the grand scheme of things. With teams playing every other day in this condensed schedule, however, missing two weeks means you're all of a sudden out for a third of the season.
The No. 4 overall pick, Carter was a popular pick for Rookie of the Year because of her explosive scoring ability. It didn't take her long to prove everyone correct, as she became the youngest player in WNBA history to score 30 points in a game when she poured in 35 against the Seattle Storm last week. And through her first eight games, she was putting up 17 a night, while shooting 42.1 percent from 3-point land.
Carter is leading the team in scoring, and her net rating differential is plus-7.3 points per 100 possessions. Currently, on a five-game losing streak, the Dream are now 2-6 on the season and are already in trouble in terms of trying to make the playoffs in a shortened season. With Carter now out for an extended period of time, their problems figure to only get worse.
