She hit her first double-double in just 4th game this season. The Indiana Fever’s Temi Fagbenle was on her path to glorify her return to the WNBA after winning championships, MVP, and All-Star honors in multiple international leagues. Averaging 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds, Fagbenle was having a good start to this season, also making her way to the Fever’s rotation.

But who knew her path was setting up to go southwards? Talk about bad timing!

Temi Fagbenle’s injury shortening her playing opportunities this season

Strongarmed in defense, Fagbenle couldn’t save herself from an unfortunate left foot injury on May 28, sidelining her for a month. She sustained the same in a close 88-82 loss to the LA Sparks, where she had played a career-high 32 minutes on the floor in that matchup.

After spending a month in recovery, Fagbenle finally made a comeback for a face-off against the Seattle Storm in an away game on June 27. In the meantime, she missed 10 games of the regular season play. Coming back to her 11th, hopes were held high.

Coming off the bench for 20 minutes, Fagbenle scored 8 points, hit 7 boards, and dished 2 assists. However, it was fate that decided she couldn’t play any further as she suffered another injury. This time it was her thumb.

Not wanting to go back to the sidelines, Fagbenle walked straight into a denial. She kept pushing herself and started wearing an air cast outside of practices and games. She also resorted to icing her thumb whenever she could. But she didn’t accept that it was serious.

As a result, she stepped onto the court and played the following two games. The first one was 13 minutes against Phoenix where she scored 10 points and 2 rebounds, the second one was against Las Vegas where she could barely make the ball move, hitting only 2 points and 7 rebounds.

But she couldn’t put it off much further.

Fagbenle finally gives in

She reflected on her actions, saying, “I was in denial. I was injured in Seattle, then played two more games. I was just running on adrenaline, being angry, annoyed.” Considering she had never experienced something similar before in the league or back in Britain, Fagbenle’s reaction was understandable. However, her hopes of having a blast this season did go on a spill. To sum it off, Fagbenle has played only 11 out of 28 games so far this season.

Her thumb has taken almost 2 months tp recover; forcing Fagbenle to be on cast for a month – most of the Olympic break – and now on a small splint which is acting as her thumb’s backbone, indicating that her return is right around the corner.

“Back-to-back injuries like that, it was definitely a mental struggle. But I’m glad to see the light now,” Fagbenle rejoiced on her way to make a return. Head coach Christie Sides expects her to return to the Fever’s next game against Minnesota on Saturday after sitting out 17 total games this season.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger