Satou Sabally Out Rest of 2026 After 13 Games

Photo: WNBA.com. Official Satou Sabally headshot.

The Liberty announced Thursday that Satou Sabally is out for the rest of 2026.

NaLyssa Smith’s elbow caught her in the head on June 23 in Las Vegas, and she never found a clean way back onto the floor — 13 games, a June 23 concussion, and a second head hit in about 10 months.

You already knew the minutes had been thin. New York signed the 6-4 free agent to sit next to Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones as the fourth piece of a Big Four built on size and creation. The deal was two years and $1,670,750 ($815,000 this season, $855,750 in 2027), a team-friendly number under the new cap. On the floor she averaged 10.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 16.8 minutes, hitting 38.5% from three across five starts.

What Sabally was supposed to do in Brooklyn was stretch half-court possessions that already run through Stewart’s post work and Ionescu’s pull-up gravity. She can put the ball on the floor from the wing, attack a closeout, and finish or kick when the help rotates late. On defense she gives Chris DeMarco another long body who can switch a wing, bump a roller, and still recover to the three-point line. Pull that size and creation out of the same five, and the Liberty lean harder on Stewart isolation, Jones as the sole big initiator, and whoever is healthy on the wing to invent the second side of the action. Playoff possessions get shorter and more predictable when the fourth creator is gone.

Health is the harder clock. Sabally’s first concussion came in Game 3 of the 2025 Finals with Phoenix, when she hit her head on Kierstan Bell’s leg and missed the rest of that series. She was later ruled out of Unrivaled while the symptoms hung around. Cleared into 2026, she still missed early Liberty games with a knee cyst, then took the June 23 elbow from Smith, checked out, tried a brief second-quarter return, and never played again. She cleared the concussion protocol, still felt symptoms, and the team shifted her designation toward a head injury. Mid-August, DeMarco said she was taking time away and that he still hoped she would return at an elite level. Thursday’s announcement ends that hope for this season.

Photo: New York Liberty. Satou Sabally #0 in a Liberty jersey during the June 11, 2026 win at Atlanta, 104-90. Official team recap still on cdn.wnba.com. Landscape, 1920x1080, full head.

The personal cost showed up before the team shut her down. On Aug. 19 she posted that she would miss the FIBA Women’s World Cup for host Germany — the home tournament she had worked toward for years. Germany tips off without her. The Liberty tip back without her too. New York has already clinched a playoff spot at 24-16, sitting sixth when the World Cup break hit, with four regular-season games left after the league returns Sept. 18 in Minnesota. They are 1-4 against Minnesota and Golden State, the two teams setting the standard. Without Sabally’s length on those matchups, you are asking Stewart and Jones to cover more ground and Ionescu to solve more late-clock problems alone.

Absences kept New York from putting its full wing group on the floor for most of the year. The Liberty can still win a short series if Stewart and Jones own the paint and Ionescu hits enough pull-ups. What they cannot do is call the versatile wing who was supposed to make those possessions less lonely.

Sources

• AP, Satou Sabally out for the season to recover from concussion, Sept. 3, 2026

• NBC Sports / AP, Liberty forward Satou Sabally out for the season, Sept. 3, 2026

• CBS Sports, Satou Sabally ruled out for rest of season due to concussion, Sept. 3, 2026

• Sporting News citing Annie Costabile, 13 games / five starts, Sept. 3, 2026

• Yahoo Sports / ClutchPoints citing ESPN’s Kareem Copeland, season-ending head injury, Sept. 3, 2026

• NY Post, Satou Sabally done for year, Sept. 3, 2026

• WNBA.com player page, Satou Sabally 2026 stats (10.4 / 2.8 / 1.9)

• Spotrac, Sabally two-year $1,670,750 Liberty contract

• Front Office Sports, Liberty salaries — Sabally $815,000 / $855,750, Apr. 17, 2026

• Yahoo Sports, Sabally two-year deal $815,000 / $855,750 confirmed

• WNBA.com / Liberty, Sabally multi-year signing press release, Apr. 16, 2026

• Photos: WNBA.com official headshot; New York Liberty official recap still, June 11 vs Atlanta