WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne was shocked and hurt when an independent medical panel rejected her request for a medical excuse for the season.
After battling Lyme disease for more than a decade and now taking 64 pills a day, she thought she would definitely be considered at high risk for serious illness if she contracted the coronavirus.
The league’s independent panel of doctors and the union agreed to make that decision thinking otherwise, resolving Monday that she was not “high risk and should be allowed to play in the bubble.”
The disease is not on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of underlying diseases that could put someone at increased risk for serious disease from COVID-19.
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The Washington Mystics star wrote in The Players’ Tribune on Wednesday about his disappointment with the panel’s decision and the decision to “risk my life … or lose my salary.”
“It hurts a lot. And maybe being hurt just makes me naive,” Delle Donne wrote. “And I know that, as athletes, we are not supposed to talk about our feelings. But feelings are all I have left at the moment. I don’t have money for NBA players, I don’t feel like going to war with the league over this, and I can’t appeal.
Delle Donne, who just re-signed with Washington in February and would earn $ 215,000 this year, said she is still deciding what to do.
She is on the Washington list and Mystic is currently paying her. She underwent back surgery in late January to treat the three herniated discs she suffered in the playoffs last year. The season begins July 25, and according to his agent, the team wants Delle Donne to come to Florida in August once she’s ready to play.
If Delle Donne had been medically excused, she would have earned her entire salary during the season. Now, if you choose not to play, the defending WNBA champion Mystics wouldn’t have to pay you.
The 30-year-old forward acknowledges in her open letter that she could have done more in the past six years to help take on a more public role in the fight against Lyme disease. She was the first national ambassador to help promote awareness of tick-borne disease, and joined in 2014.
She comes from a historic season in which she helped lead Washington to its first WNBA title. She shot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point arc and more than 90% from the foul line last season to become the first player in league history to do so.
Delle Donne’s new teammate, Tina Charles, was also awaiting a decision from the medical panel. If both players miss the season, the mystics would be reduced to 10 players on the roster.
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“As with all of our players, we have and will support Elena throughout this process. The health and well-being of our players is of utmost importance, ”said Mystics coach and general manager Mike Thibault.
Charles and Delle Donne did not travel with the team to Bradenton, Florida. The WNBA is using IMG Academy as a one-stop site for its season that begins on July 25.
There are a handful of players waiting for their cases to be heard by the three-person panel. Phoenix forward Jessica Breland, who missed a year while in North Carolina to be treated for Hodgkin lymphoma, was considered high risk and was medically excused, the Mercury said.
