Toronto’s playoff hopes just took a serious hit. Brittney Sykes, the Tempo’s leading scorer and emotional engine, has been diagnosed with a plantar fascia injury after collapsing in the third quarter of Tuesday’s 113-91 loss to the Indiana Fever. The team confirmed she’ll be reevaluated in the coming weeks and is expected to return at some point this season. But let’s be real — “coming weeks” in WNBA injury speak usually means a month or more.
Sykes had to be helped off the court at the 6:42 mark of the third quarter. She was driving baseline when she pulled up suddenly and grabbed at her foot. Teammates surrounded her immediately. Marina Mabrey, after comforting Sykes, literally pounded her fist on the floor in frustration. That told you everything. The look on her face said it all.
“You saw my face when Slim went down, that kind of says it all,” Mabrey told reporters after the game.
Before the injury, Sykes was having one hell of a season. She averaged 20.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 42.1 percent from the field. She was basically the entire offense for long stretches. Losing her for any length of time is brutal timing for a team fighting for positioning in the standings.
What the injury means for Toronto
The plantar fascia is that thick band of tissue running along the bottom of the foot. When it tears or gets severely inflamed, it’s not something you just play through. Basketball players who push off on every cut and jump — specifically guards like Sykes — find it almost impossible to function at a high level until it fully heals. The Tempo are calling this a full recovery situation, not a season-ender, but the timeline is fuzzy.
“Obviously she’s been playing so good for us and doing so much for us at both ends of the floor,” head coach Sandy Brondello said. “So when you lose one of your best players it’s tough. We couldn’t find ways that we could fill Slim’s shoes. That’s going to be really hard.”
Brondello didn’t sugarcoat it. And why would she? Sykes’ absence leaves a gaping hole in the backcourt. The Tempo will need Kysre Gondrezick and others to step up in a hurry. They don’t have a lot of depth at guard, and the offense was already built around Sykes’ ability to create off the dribble.
What comes next
The team hasn’t released a specific timetable beyond that reevaluation window. Sykes is expected to make a full return in 2026 according to the Tempo, which is a weirdly specific way to phrase it. But it does suggest the organization believes she’ll be back at full strength eventually, just maybe not in time for the stretch run of this regular season.
Toronto plays Connecticut next, then faces New York twice in a span of five days. That’s a brutal stretch to navigate without your best player. The Fever game already showed what happens when Sykes leaves — the offense bogged down, turnovers piled up, and Indiana ran away with it in the fourth quarter.
For now, the Tempo wait. And so does Sykes, who’s probably already counting the days until that reevaluation.
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