The Phoenix Mercury’s season of setbacks continues, with the team announcing that star Shey Peddy suffered a right Achilles tendon rupture in their Round 1 WNBA playoff game.

Peddy was carried off during the third quarter of the Mercury’s Wednesday night playoff matchup against the Las Vegas Aces after going down with a non-contact injury.

“I know I’m built for the challenge and this will only make me stronger,” Peddy wrote in a message posted to Twitter. “Minor setback for a major comeback!”

I can’t lie, these past 48hrs has been tough for me. I’ve cried, blamed myself and cried some more trying to make sense of everything. But I know I’m built for the challenge and this will only make me stronger. Minor setback for a major comeback! 😤 pic.twitter.com/xBm2Frvo9C

— Shey Peddy (@SheyP11) August 20, 2022

Peddy’s season-ending injury comes amid an already challenging year for the Phoenix Mercury.

Center Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia since February and sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges. Diana Taurasi has been sidelined with a quad injury, missing the last games of the regular season and the playoff opener. Skylar Diggins-Smith is also away from the team due to personal reasons and is not expected to make a return for the playoffs.

“I don’t know that anybody in this league has been dealt a tougher hand than Vanessa Nygaard,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon after Wednesday’s game. “That completely sucks for them. That is not a fun moment for either side…Hopefully, it’s not what we think.”

The depleted Mercury will need to pull out a win in Saturday’s Game 2 matchup against Las Vegas to keep their postseason dreams alive.

Two NWSL teams avoided some major setbacks on Thursday, as both Portland’s Morgan Weaver and Orlando’s Angelina were cleared of season-ending injuries after undergoing scope procedures earlier this week. 

Angelina has been described by her club as "week-to-week," while Weaver has been placed on Portland’s 45-day injury list. 

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The Thorns won their May 4th game without Weaver 2-1, continuing their season turnaround, while the Pride remain one of two unbeaten teams in the NWSL.

In other injury list news, Christen Press posted a video on Thursday of her running with a trainer and doing drills, providing further updates on her road back from a June 2022 ACL tear.

🚨CHRISTEN PRESS IS SHOOTING AND RUNNING 🤩

(yes, we're freaking out)

🎥: @ChristenPress pic.twitter.com/BUjIyzj4xh

— The Women's Game (@WomensGameMIB) May 9, 2024

Angel City coach Becki Tweed has told reporters that Press is back with the team, but has not issued a timetable for her return to the field.

A group led by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum will bring a new WNBA franchise to Canada, CBC Sports reported early this morning. 

Set to begin play in 2026, the team will be owned and operated by Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Inc. Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC, Argos, and Marlies. He originally explored an expansion team via MLSE, but was turned down by other members of the board. 

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The Toronto addition will be the WNBA's 14th team. It follows the Bay Area's WNBA Golden State, which will debut in 2025. 

An official announcement is expected May 23rd in Toronto, according to reports. 

"We continue to engage in productive conversations with interested ownership groups in a number of markets but have no news to report at this time," a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement. Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports group, meanwhile, told CBC Sports that his organization has “no update at this time.”

In April, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that Toronto was among the cities being considered for WNBA expansion.

The WNBA has a growing footprint in Canada, as the league's held wildly successful exhibition games north of the US border for the last two seasons. 

In 2023, a preseason matchup between Chicago and Minnesota sold out Toronto’s 19,800-capacity Scotiabank Arena. This past Saturday, the league drew more than 16,000 fans to Edmonton for a preseason showdown between LA and Seattle.

The Toronto team will reportedly play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,000-seat arena which is currently home to the Marlies as well as Toronto’s PWHL franchise.

The Las Vegas Aces took to the White House yet again on Thursday to celebrate their 2023 WNBA championship victory. 

The decorated team was hosted by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden, marking the first time the Bidens have welcomed the team personally.

Last year, Harris hosted the Aces after the Bidens were unable to attend due to a last minute conflict. Harris applauded the team for their 2022 win, pointing to the "grit and determination" they showcased en route to their WNBA Finals win over Connecticut. 

President Biden is ready to PLAY! 🤣

The @LVAces presented personalized jerseys for the @POTUS and @VP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/vm8iWbMpxj

— WNBA (@WNBA) May 9, 2024

The Aces won back-to-back championships in 2023, becoming the first WNBA franchise to repeat the feat since 2002. More impressively, they did so without 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes, both of whom were sidelined with injuries for the title-clinching Game 4. Star forward A’ja Wilson ended up claiming the 2023 Finals MVP honors.

Following the team’s White House visit, the Aces will visit Wilson’s alma mater South Carolina for an exhibition game against the Puerto Rico women's national basketball team. According to head coach Becky Hammon, the unconventional matchup came about when other WNBA teams lacked interest in facing the reigning champs in preseason play.

"We just started kind of building from there," Hammon told the Las Vegas Review Journal. "It’s really cool for players to go home, and that’s where she’s from. She’s the centerpiece of our whole organization."

Kelsey Plum jokingly called Wilson the "mayor of South Carolina" before citing the trip as an opportunity to build team chemistry ahead of their season opener against Phoenix on Tuesday.

"We have some new pieces, and we’re just trying to figure out where our rhythm is," Plum said, referring to recent roster prospects like Iowa grad Kate Martin, among others. "Because when the season starts, it happens fast."

Toronto’s Professional Women's Hockey League team skated to victory Wednesday night, kicking off the league's first playoff match with a 4-0 win over visiting Minnesota.

Natalie Spooner — the league's leading regular season goalscorer with 20 goals in 24 games — opened things up with the first playoff goal in PWSHL history at 9:47 of the first period, later notching an assist in front of Coca-Cola Coliseum's 8,473 fans. Captain Blayre Turnbull followed up Spooner's efforts with two goals of her own, securing the game's final point with just 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

In the defensive end, goalie Kristen Campbell put a stop to all 26 shots fired her way. With game one behind them, Toronto has pulled ahead of Minnesota 1-0 in the best-of-five series.

Good soup. 🍲

Kristen Campbell locks in the first-ever PWHL Playoff shutout! pic.twitter.com/J0Ve9MjHpw

— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) May 9, 2024

"It's what I believe I expect and I think what the group expects as well," head coach Troy Ryan said in postgame remarks. "Being everything we thought it would be, I think the atmosphere was incredible. I think our performance was pretty good and I think it's a great stepping-stone for us to continue to build on for this series and hopefully moving forward.

For Turnbull, the win came as a result of weeks of regular season preparation, adding that the team was "proud" of its execution throughout their first playoff game. 

"The whole season we’ve been building and building waiting to get into playoffs and trying to find our game every week and get better so that when players arrived, we are ready to go," Turnbull said. "I think there’s still a few areas that we can keep improving on, but overall, we’re pretty happy with where we’re at, so we’re excited to get back on the ice for game two."

The postseason outing continues a record-breaking regular season for the young league. In total, the PWHL set six attendance records for women’s hockey this year, with nearly 400,000 fans showing up to watch the inaugural teams take the ice over the 72-game season.

Toronto will face Minnesota at home once more in Game 2 of the series on Friday, before the teams move to Minnesota for Monday's Game 3.