1:40 PM ET
Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
CloseMechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Forward Breanna Stewart, an MVP candidate, and point guard Sue Bird will miss the Seattle Storm’s WNBA regular-season finale Sunday (ABC, 3 p.m. ET) against Las Vegas. Both players also missed Friday’s 83-60 Storm victory against the Phoenix Mercury.
Stewart, the 2018 WNBA MVP, is averaging 19.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. She is dealing with tendinitis in her left foot. Stewart missed all last season with a torn Achilles tendon. Friday was Stewart’s first missed game this season in the bubble in Bradenton, Florida.
Bird (9.8 PPG, 5.2 APG) had missed nine games this season with an injured left knee (bone bruise) before reinjuring it in a collision with Dallas’ Satou Sabally on Wednesday.
The winner of Sunday’s Storm-Aces game gets the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs. Both the Storm (18-3) and the Aces (17-4) already have earned double byes into the semifinals.