BREAKING: Sue Bird is due for arthroscopic knee surgery, out indefinitely

Sue Bird is expected to miss much, if not all, of the 2019 WNBA season due to a knee injury requiring surgery, per Arielle Chambers with High Post Hoops.

Chambers reports:

The surgery’s estimated recovery is 8-10 weeks, and dependent on rehabilitation, the super-vet and WNBA legend may or may not return.

Via official statement released after Chambers’ initial report, the Seattle Storm detailed Bird’s injury and ruled her out indefinitely:

Point guard Sue Bird will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in her left knee and will be out indefinitely during the 2019 season.

This is quite a blow to a Storm team already down one superstar in Breanna Stewart (Achilles surgery) and coach Dan Hughes (cancer surgery and treatment).

Of this setback for her career and the team, Bird said:

I’m super disappointed to have to miss time with the team this season. There’s nothing I want more than to be on court with my teammates defending our title. I’ve been down this road before, so now I just have to focus on getting better so I can continue to represent the Storm, the city of Seattle and the ‘Storm Crazies’ in the future.”

Natasha Howard, Jewell Loyd and company will make every effort to keep this team in contention even without two of its best players, and Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel has faith in this team’s ability to bounce back, stating:

Our franchise is built to be resilient. We have a team that brought the city of Seattle a WNBA championship in 2018 and we will not diminish our expectation for the future.”

A championship defense is a tall order, even for the scrappiest of competitors. From the WNBA Championship trophy presentation in September to being down two stars and a head coach to start the 2019 WNBA season is an unimaginable blow. How the players who can suit up recover mentally from this team’s third major setback will probably chart the course of the season.