Injury report: Dallas Wings lose Courtney Paris for 6-8 weeks

The Dallas Wings announced Friday afternoon that center Courtney Paris sustained a knee injury that will keep her out for the next six-to-eight weeks, depleting an already-thin frontcourt.

The Wings also said that Aerial Powers, still recovering from hip surgery, remains out for Saturday’s game against the Mercury in Phoenix.

The loss of Paris is critical for a team that has very little margin for error in the frontcourt. Paris is the team’s starting center, with rookie Breanna Lewis out of Kansas State backing her up.

Other bigs like Theresa Plaisance, Glory Johnson and even Karima Christmas-Kelly are ideally more suited for the three or the four, particularly important with Powers still out of action.

As for Paris, she is ever-so-slightly behind Cheryl Ford on the league’s all-time leaderboard for total rebounding percentage at 20.44 percent for her career. Paris also leads the team in block percentage with 4.7 percent, a primary driver of the team’s overall block rate, which ranks second in the league. She’s a big reason the Wings are 2-1 early on, powering a defense built around quickness and limiting opposing possessions.

The Wings were the early talk of the league, especially after marching into San Antonio and ruining the Stars’ opener with a 33-13 fourth quarter.

Now, surprising teams gets that much harder.