Phoenix Mercury guard Bria Hartley will miss the remainder of the WNBA season, coach Sandy Brondello said before Sunday’s game against Minnesota.

“It’s not a good injury,” Brondello said without giving any specifics as to what will be medically required.

Hartley suffered a right knee injury Friday and was walking on crutches after the game. The Mercury only announced Saturday that she would be out Sunday vs. Minnesota. 

Hartley, 27, is in the first year of a maximum salary three-year contract, signing as a free agent in February. She also is a starting guard for the French national team that is qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. 

The 5-8 guard was having the best year of her seven-year WNBA career, averaging 14.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists. She missed two games in early August with an Achilles strain.

Hartley moved into the starting lineup Aug. 21 after the Mercury lost star center Brittney Griner, who left the WNBA bubble in Bradenton, Florida, for personal reasons.

“You’re looking at Sixth Man of the Year (before becoming a starter), Most Improved Player (candidate),” Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said. “She’s playing great basketball, she looks great, she looks comfortable out there. She’s fun to play with, she plays on both ends of the floor. 

“We’ve been able to get closer, talking to each other, playing off each other. It’s unfortunate. From somebody who’s been through knee injuries, it brings back memories. I hate to see it to any of us.”

Diggins-Smith suffered an ACL tear in 2015 that forced her to miss all but nine games that season and seven at the start of the 2016 season.

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough will start Sunday in place of Hartley, Brondello said.

WIthout Griner and Hartley, the Mercury (8-7) are missing two of their top six players and have just nine players on their roster. Forward Nia Coffey has not played in the past two games due to a hand injury and is out again Sunday. Guard Shey Peddy is new to the Mercury, playing in only one game so far. 

The Mercury also are without forward Jessica Breland (medical exemption this season) and guard Yvonne Turner, who suffered a major knee injury early this year playing overseas. 

Hartley suffered her injury late in the first quarter Friday. The Mercury struggled in the aftermath before regrouping for a huge second half in a 94-72 win over Washington.

Diggins-Smith leads Mercury over Washington

It could have gone either way, Skylar Diggins-Smith said.

Down by eight at halftime Friday night and missing one of their top players in injured Bria Hartley, the Phoenix Mercury could have folded against the Washington Mystics and honestly rationalized it away as the emotional toll from a draining week.

Instead, with Diggins-Smith leading the way, the Mercury outscored the Mystics by 30 points in the second half of a stunning 94-72 win at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Diggins-Smith scored 21 of her 24 points in the second half in what Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said were the best moments of her first season with Phoenix.

“That’s probably the best half she’s had for us,” Brondello said. “She let the game come to her, but that shows what a special player she is. We controlled the tempo, it was a great team effort.”

Diggins-Smith has been among the Mercury players most affected by the latest police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, that resulted in WNBA games being postponed Wednesday and Thursday.

“There’s a lot of things going through my head,” Diggins-Smith said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity. It’s been exhausting, not even just physically for everything happening through the world and inside the bubble.”

Up next 

Minnesota Lynx vs. Phoenix Mercury, IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida, 3 p.m. Sunday, Fox Sports Arizona +/Facebook — The Mercury (8-7) will try for a split vs. the Lynx (10-4), who won the first meeting 90-80 on Aug. 21 when Phoenix was playing without C Brittney Griner for the first time. The Lynx are 19-1 vs. the Mercury since late August 2015 including five playoff wins. Minnesota won 88-79 over Atlanta on Friday and is 4-1 in its last five games.