NBABy Jay Rigdon on

The Covid-19 pandemic meant basketball fans had to wait for Sabrina Ionescu to make her professional debut. The consensus best women’s prospect in a long time, Ionescu went first overall to the New York Liberty at April’s WNBA Draft after her college career was cut short at Oregon.

Now, after the season was delayed for about three months, she’s finally able to get on the court and show why she’s going to be a star. Her debut included some understandable rust and/or nerves; she went 0-8 from deep and just 4-17 overall, but she demonstrated her all-around game by still contributing 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. Tonight she looked a lot more comfortable for her second game, and the box score reflected it.

Ionescu’s biggest improvement was from behind the arc, lighting it up in the first half with four triples.

Ionescu’s elite shooting wasn’t the only skill on display, though, as she also racked up seven rebounds and seven assists, including at least one home run outlet pass.

She kept it up in the second half, too, finishing the game with 33 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals in just 33 minutes played. (One point scored per minute you’re on the court is almost always going to be a great night.)

Unfortunately for the Liberty, they fell to 0-2. They tied for second-worst record in the league last season, which is how they were in position to win the lottery and draft Ionescu in the first place, so it’s not like this is much of a surprise. Mostly, it’s just nice to have sports back in general; it’s hard to take watching Ionescu throwing pinpoint passes for granted after all professional team sports were suspended for nearly four months.

Ionescu and the Liberty are back in action on Friday night against the Washington Mystics on NBA TV.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

View all posts by Jay Rigdon