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Mystics GM and Head Coach Mike Thibault announced that Emma Meesseman will sit out the 2018 WNBA season to rest and fully prepare for Belgium’s first FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup run in September 22-30, 2018. She has pledged to return in the 2019 season.
Here is the statement:
“Emma has played year-round for almost six consecutive years, without time to rest her body from the wear and tear that results from that kind of schedule. In addition, Emma feels that her National Team preparation in August and September, ahead of the 2018 World Cup of Basketball, is a priority for her at this point in her career. We are sorry that Emma will not be with us this season, but we have been preparing for this possibility for a while.”
As of the time this article was published, Meesseman did not give a statement of her own.
In a year where the Mystics hope to get to their first Finals, this hurts. We’ll have more in the upcoming days.