Phoenix Mercury guard Shey Peddy ruled out for Game 2 vs. Las Vegas Aces

LAS VEGAS — The Phoenix Mercury will be without starting guard Shey Peddy for Saturday’s Game 2 of their WNBA first-round series with the Las Vegas Aces.

Peddy was hurt Wednesday in Game 1; the Mercury have not yet announced the severity of her foot injury. Peddy went down on a non-contact play in front of the Mercury bench in the third quarter Wednesday and was carried off the court.

The Aces won the first game of the best-of-three series 79-63. The Mercury need a victory Saturday (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET) to keep their season going. But they will have to do so without Peddy, who started 24 games in the regular season, averaging 9.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

“Shey is one of our best defensive players, she’s been a true lockdown defender for us,” Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard said Friday. “Also really huge on the offensive side. So we will ask more from others to fill that space. Shey will be with us, always bringing that smile, still.

“It’s been tough. This is a really big blow. Injuries are so hard for athletes, so to see one of their close friends get injured right in front of them, that’s traumatic. We really tried to support them by giving them a little bit of space, a little more time off, so they could mentally regroup.”

Peddy, who turns 34 in late October, is a study in perseverance in making the WNBA. A second-round draft pick out of Temple in 2012, Peddy was waived by Chicago before that season started. She then played overseas and was cut from WNBA training camps a couple more times before finally seeing her first WNBA action at age 30 with Washington in 2019, playing 15 games with the Mystics.

In 2020, she played with Washington and then Phoenix, and made the game-winning 3-point shot at the buzzer for the Mercury against the Mystics in an 85-84 first-round victory in the playoffs that year. In 2021, she played the entire season with the Mercury, who made the WNBA Finals.

Peddy had eight points, five assists and two steals in Game 1 before being injured. Her loss is the latest difficult issue the Mercury and first-year coach Nygaard have dealt with in 2022.

Center Brittney Griner has been jailed in Russia since February, center Tina Charles had a contract divorce from the team in June, guard Diana Taurasi has a quad injury that has kept her sidelined the last six games and guard Skylar Diggins-Smith stepped away from the team in the last week of the regular season for personal reasons. All four have been Olympians and All-Stars.