Liberty start title defense without Ionescu, Sabally — both out for opener

The defending champs duct-taped together opening night. Sabrina Ionescu rolled her left ankle in the preseason finale against the Sun on Sunday. MRI came back clean — no ligament damage, no fracture — but the Liberty are parking her at minimum two weeks, which means at least the first four games of the season.

Satou Sabally, the prize offseason add who came over from Phoenix, is out indefinitely with a cyst and listed day-to-day. Rebecca Allen has a left leg issue and is out too. That's three rotation players in street clothes for a title-defense opener.

Hours before tipoff, the Liberty signed Aubrey Griffin and former Mystics guard Julie Vanloo to hardship contracts to fill the gaps. Vanloo gives them another ball-handler with Ionescu out. Griffin adds a wing.

It didn't matter — Breanna Stewart turned in a 31/10/3 monster and the Liberty rolled the Sun by 31. But the next stretch of the schedule is Phoenix, Vegas and Indiana. The patches need to hold.