The former Mississippi State standout tore her right ACL during a game in Israel.
The Indiana Fever will take the court this season without a key member of their lineup as they look to improve on a lackluster 2018. The team announced Friday that guard Victoria Vivians is out for 2019 after she tore her right ACL during a game in Israel on March 25.
Vivians has shined on the Maccabi Bnot Ashdod basketball team in Israel during this WNBA offseason, averaging 18.5 points and 7.4 rebounds as part of the team’s starting five.
“Our first priority is to her health and recovery,” Fever President & COO Allison Barber said in a statement released by the team. “We will miss Victoria on the court in her 20th season, but we know she will be with us in spirit, if not in sneakers.”
Vivians made her presence known among a talented class of WNBA rookies in 2018. She started 26 of 34 games for the Fever, averaging just under nine points and 3.1 rebounds per game. At 27.1 minutes per game, Vivians received more playing time than anyone on the Fever squad except for veteran player Candice Dupree. Vivians also scored 65 three-point shots during her first WNBA season, a mark that was good for second among all rookies behind fellow Fever newbie Kelsey Mitchell.
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The team says Vivians, the No. 8-overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft out of Mississippi State, expects to be back for the 2020 WNBA season.
The Fever will pick third in Wednesday’s 2019 WNBA Draft. Now Pokey Chatman faces a season in which she will be integrating a high pick alongside Kelsey Mitchell, but without her other 2018 first rounder.
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