Gray has minor hand procedure, day-to-day for WNBA Finals — SkimNews
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- Allisha Gray underwent a minor procedure on her left hand and is day-to-day ahead of Saturday's WNBA Finals Game 1 against the No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries, telling WSB-TV that 'progress is great'
- Gray declined to clarify whether the procedure was surgery, and the Atlanta Dream declined to say when it occurred; she was seen taking shots at practice Tuesday before the team travels to the Bay Area on Wednesday
- Gray has already missed the Dream's past two playoff games after injuring the hand in the first half of Game 1 of their semifinal against the New York Liberty; the No. 4 seed Dream still advanced with a three-game sweep
- Coach Karl Smesko ruled Gray out of Game 3 against New York last Friday 'in the interest of caution' after she went through warmups, having been listed as questionable
- Gray, a four-time All-Star guard, averaged 19.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals across all 44 regular-season games and led Atlanta with 22.0 points per game in their first-round sweep of Washington
- Both the Dream and Valkyries are competing for their first WNBA championship, raising the stakes of Gray's potential availability in the best-of-Finals series
Why it matters: Gray is the Dream's leading scorer and appeared in all 44 regular-season games, so her potential absence for Game 1 could shift the margin in a Finals matchup where both teams are chasing their first WNBA championship — a matchup the league has heavily promoted with two hungry, title-hungry franchises meeting on its biggest stage.
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