The Toronto Tempo’s inaugural season has been off to a strong start with a ton of incredible storylines. Through 15 games, the Tempo are 7-8, with the eighth-best offense and the league’s fourth-worst defensive rating, as well as a signature win against the Los Angeles Sparks. Two of the most prominent storylines this season have been the All-Star-level play of veteran guard Brittney Sykes and the immediate impact of rookie guard Kiki Rice.
Unfortunately for the Tempo and their fans, both members of their impressive guard tandem are expected to be sidelined for an extended period. Rice sustained a Grade 3 ankle sprain on June 3, and Sykes suffered a plantar fascia injury on Tuesday against the Indiana Fever. The players will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks, with the hope that they will return at some point this season.
With arguably the toughest portion of Toronto’s schedule on deck, these injuries couldn't have come at a worse time.
The Tempo could be forced to make major changes
For a Tempo team that is offense-first and has built its offensive identity around Sykes, losing her now is poised to be a major wake-up call for Toronto. All season, the approach offensively has been to get the ball to Slim, and she’s going to drive and create for herself or kick out for a three. The Tempo no longer has that. Her explosive first step and twitchy dribble have left defenders lost, and no one on this roster has the speed or quickness to really replicate that in her absence. Sykes saw her points per game this season jump from 14.1 to 20.1, along with a seven percent usage rate jump.
Sandy Brondello and her staff aren’t going to be able to just replace that, and it may force this Tempo team almost midway through a season to completely change the way they play.
Adjusting to life without Sykes would be easier if Kiki Rice were healthy and back on the court, but we know that isn’t the reality. It’s rare to see a rookie score and score as efficiently as Rice has this season, and having her in the backcourt with Maybery in Sykes' absence would’ve been massive for this team.
Rice is expected to return before Sykes, considering she has been out since June 3. However, having neither for a six-game stretch that features Connecticut, Atlanta, LA, Phoenix, Dallas, and Golden State, it will be very hard to stay afloat during this time. This is not to say the Tempo doesn’t have elite or high-level players, but they don’t have ball handlers I can envision stepping up to fill the roles of Rice and Sykes.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully expect some massive games from Mabrey, but the question I ask is, can Julie Allemand, Laura Juskaite, or Maria Conde really be a secondary ball handler at the level needed to make up for those absences? It would be great to see, but it is incredibly unlikely.
For an expansion team, the Tempo haven’t faced the normal adversity seen in a typical inaugural season, making this next stretch a potential season-defining moment.
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