NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu will miss the New York Liberty's game against the Indiana Fever on Saturday night because of back soreness.
The star guard practiced with the team on Friday, marking the first time this season that New York had all of its players in training. She felt some soreness in her back after practice, Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said. Ionescu talked after practice on Friday and said it was “getting better, day-by-day.”
She was hoping to play Saturday, but wasn't sure if she would be able to.
“See how I feel, taking every day in stride and see how it responds to what I do,” Ionescu said. “It is what it is. I haven’t really tried to think too much into it. It’s still early. Want to be out there competing. It’s part of sports. Deal with it as it comes.”
The injury has sidelined her for the last few games after an ankle injury in the preseason caused her to miss the first five contests.
“She wants to be out there and she’s trying her best and she’s getting better,” DeMarco said at shootaround Saturday morning. “Hopefully we’ll have her on a road trip.”
Ionescu played in one game this season so far — May 24 against Dallas, where it first started hurting.
“After the game I played in, it was pretty evident that I needed to get the treatment,” she said. “Take some time to make sure it feels good.”
New York (6-4) is finishing off a seven-game home stand against Indiana. Rookie guard Pauline Astier has started in Ionescu's place and done a great job so far. She's averaging 11.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu shoots during the 3-point contest at the WNBA All-Star basketball weekend, July 18, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese army and state media said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the strike against its military a “flagrant violation” of the country's sovereignty and international law during an “ongoing escalation that threatens stability and security in the south."
An airstrike on a vehicle on a road linking Nabatiyeh city with Marjayoun town killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said, without releasing their names. Another airstrike on Saksakiyah village killed six people and wounded four, the state-run National News Agency said.
Lebanon's army said the “continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression” aims to thwart efforts toward a solution "that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”
The Israeli military confirmed hitting a vehicle and said it was “moving suspiciously” toward soldiers near Kfar Tibnit village, after the military received “concrete indications” that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group would direct fire toward Israeli soldiers from the same area.
The military said it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.
Meanwhile, Israel's military announced the deaths of two soldiers in southern Lebanon, without the dates they died.
The latest ceasefire, announced in Washington, came through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. Hezbollah has refused the truce.
Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing farther into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began attacking Iran.
Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and carried out attacks that have displaced more than 1 million people. The fighting has killed at least 31 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
On Friday, Aoun and Lebanon's prime minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal, saying Tehran should not use their country as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington. Iran wants a ceasefire deal with the United States to include the situation in Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded Saturday on X, saying that after Aoun's comments, “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis.”
“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” Araghchi added, in reference to Israel.
In this image released by the Lebanese Army on its official X account, Lebanese Red Cross personnel and rescue workers stand next to a destroyed vehicle after an Israeli airstrike on the road linking the city of Nabatiyeh and the town of Marjayoun, in Kfar Tebnit, Lebanon, Saturday, June 6, 2026, where, the Lebanese Army said, the vehicle belonged to the army and a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier were killed in the strike. (Lebanese Army via AP)
A view of Beaufort Castle, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
