Lindsay Whalen hobbled around the Lynx practice facility at Mayo Clinic Square on Tuesday, wearing a walking boot to protect her right foot and ankle that forced her to leave Sunday's victory over Phoenix in the second quarter.
The immediate diagnosis was that Whalen would miss the final four games of the regular season, nursing what she called bursitis, with pain in her ankle and Achilles. The Lynx hold a three-game lead in the Western Conference, so she's still hopeful she'll return for the playoffs.
"I'll take the rest and get strong and get healed and come back when I can," Whalen said. "There's no [timeline]. We'll just take each little progression and deal with it. I'll be doing my rehab and treatments and everything and we'll go from there."
Whalen is averaging 10.9 points per game and 4.3 assists — the fourth most in the WNBA.
The Lynx continue a four-game homestand on Friday against the Indiana Fever.
Whalen isn't the only Lynx veteran who could be sidelined at least through the rest of the regular season. Guard Seimone Augustus hasn't played since Aug. 19 after tweaking an ankle while still recovering from knee surgery.
Augustus practiced in a limited role on Tuesday.
Coach Cheryl Reeve said there's no reason to rush either of her two starting guards back into action. Reeve, a self-described worrier, is considering the worst possible outcome — Whalen and Augustus miss the postseason.
Augustus is averaging a career-low 13.8 points.
"I won't be sleeping, the bags [under my eyes] will increase, the colors will get darker under the eyes just because I'm a worrier. That's my nature," Reeve said. "If you talk to the docs, they'll probably tell you something different. But for me, I'm always of the mind-set expect the worst and hope for the best. So unfortunately for someone like myself, I'll worry [they're done for the season]. But at this point, there's not a reason to."
