Delle Donne will miss Friday's game with back injury

Mystics head coach Mike Thibault announced on Thursday that Delle Donne likely won't play on Friday against the Atlanta Dream due to a back issue and her status is uncertain for the remainder of the season.

"She is probably not going to play at all this weekend and I'm not sure about the rest of the year yet, I don't know yet," said Thibault.

"A little bit of setback and part of it is the referred pains that she had earlier when, not just the back, but it affects the nerves in your leg and all that kind of stuff and so that's been part of the problem," Thibault said. "We've got a little bit of that to deal with right now."

Delle Donne hasn't played since Aug. 26 (which was only her third game back) against the Dallas Wings after playing 12 minutes. She said something didn't feel right while fighting for a rebound and she sat for the remainder of the game for "precautionary reasons."

Delle Donne has missed Washington's last four games. She appeared in three games after returning to the court on Aug. 22, averaging 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game.

Delle Donne was playing for the first time since October 2019, when the Mystics won the WNBA Championship. She opted out of the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic after she was denied a medical exemption by the WNBA. The six-time All-Star has had multiple back surgeries.

The Washington Mystics will continue their push toward a playoff berth when they face the Atlanta Dream tomorrow night.