Las Vegas Aces rookie Kate Martin had to be helped off the court with a leg injury during the team’s surprise 93-85 loss to the Chicago Sky on Tuesday night. Martin returned to the bench for the second half but was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Late in the first quarter, Martin was bringing the ball up the floor when she planted near midcourt to try and spin back the other direction. As she did so, her right leg appeared to give out and her ankle rolled. Martin immediately screamed in pain and clutched for her lower leg.
Her teammates quickly huddled around her in obvious concern, and after a brief consultation with the medical staff she was helped off the court. She was putting a small amount of weight on her right leg as she hobbled to the locker room.
Martin starred at Iowa alongside Caitlin Clark, and helped the Hawkeyes reach back-to-back national championship games in the last two seasons. She attended the 2024 WNBA Draft to support Clark, who was the No. 1 overall pick, and then wound up getting selected herself at No. 18 overall.
Heading into training camp, Martin seemed a long shot to make the Aces’ final roster. Fast forward a few months and she’s a regular rotation player for the back-to-back champs. Entering Tuesday’s contest, she was averaging 3.6 points, two rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, and shooting 39.6% on 3-point attempts.
Given the Aces’ already thin supporting cast, losing Martin for any significant portion of time would be a real blow. Even though she’d scored just 79 points all season entering Tuesday, she was seventh in the team in total points, which shows how weak their reserves have been for much of the season. The Aces’ bench is 10th in the league in scoring at 14.5 points per game, and outside of Tiffany Hayes, all of the other back-ups have a total of seven double-digit scoring games combined.
