Angel McCoughtry was in denial. She had fully recovered from a left knee procedure that sidelined her for the entire 2019 season and was coming off, statistically, perhaps her best offensive season to date. She was in the midst of the 2021 preseason, her engine running at 110% percent as it is wont to do when that wretched lightning struck for the second time.
“The first injury was contact, right? I had never really been injured before, so I always thought, ‘Okay, it was contact. The girl bumped into my knee. So I didn’t really get injured,’” McCoughtry said during her introductory press conference Thursday morning announcing her signing with the Minnesota Lynx.