Mercury under fire for response to scary Satou Sabally injury

Jeremy Beren

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Mercury under fire for response to scary Satou Sabally injury image

Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Finals was a thrilling, dramatic contest that was not decided until the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

But a potentially serious injury to Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally -- and the Mercury medical team's response to it -- threatens to overshadow one of the great endings to a Finals game in recent memory.

With 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, Sabally collided with the planted leg of Las Vegas Aces forward Kierstan Bell after she was fouled by Aces guard Jackie Young. Sabally stayed down for several minutes following the collision, which immediately sparked fears of a serious head and/or neck injury.

Sabally was eventually helped off the floor and did not return to the game -- which ended when A'ja Wilson sank a game-winning seven-foot jump shot in the final second of regulation.

MORE: Aces' A'ja Wilson grows WNBA legend status with epic Finals stats, finish

Concerned fans, reporters and medical professionals took to social media to question the Mercury's handling of the incident. Medical personnel did not call for a stretcher or a wheelchair for Sabally, and the All-Star forward appeared dazed and unable to move under her own power as teammates ushered her off the court.

Jess Schwartz, who runs the Concussion Corner channel on YouTube, posted a video Wednesday night on social media in which she explained that Sabally being "max assisted" to her feet and off the court will spark fears of a "serious secondary injury" to the player's cervical cord -- the uppermost portion of the spinal cord.

"My concern is that (Sabally) didn't independently ambulate off that court," Schwartz said. "She went from sitting, when they finally got her up, to being lifted up, and we want to see players independently do those things. We want to make sure we're protecting her spine and her spinal cord, and also her brain."

@youforgotaboutdre Can we let the players heal in peace? Every injury doesn’t need a 10-angle close-up—give them their privacy, not a documentary.” #WNBA #PlayerPrivacy #RespectTheGame #satousabally ♬ original sound - Youforgotaboutdre 🙋🏼‍♀️🏀🥎

Posts on X expressed outrage toward the Mercury for the protracted sequence that seemed to go against the best medical practices for the type of injury Sabally is suspected to have suffered.

While she immediately entered concussion protocol and did not even return to the bench as Game 3 concluded, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts did not have a further update on his star forward's condition Wednesday night, with the Mercury's 0-3 deficit in the best-of-seven series suddenly not the biggest problem Phoenix has to worry about.

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Jeremy Beren

Jeremy Beren is a freelance WNBA writer with The Sporting News. A Phoenix native, he is a graduate of Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and he has a decade’s worth of sports journalism experience. Jeremy's work has appeared in publications such as Marca, SB Nation, Athlon Sports and Vice Sports. He currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.