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Satou Sabally has significantly increased her points average
Photo: Maximilian Haupt / dpa
The German national basketball player Satou Sabally received special awards in the WNBA: The 25-year-old from the Dallas Wings was named "Most Improved Player 2023", as her club announced. It was therefore appreciated for the fact that it has improved most significantly compared to the previous season.
Sabally averaged 38.18 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 4 main round games in her fourth season in the North American top league. In the previous season, she had averaged 11.11 points, 3.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 1 games. As in 2021, Sabally was also on the Allstar team in 2023.
Sabally also sees her award as a signal for sport in Germany. "It means a lot for German basketball to win such an important award. It's really cool and I'm really happy about it," she said. But Sabally can't really enjoy it yet. "I am grateful. It shows that I did something great and was better than last season. But my focus is still on the next game, so it's difficult to really enjoy it now," she said.
"It's gotten better every year. She works extremely hard, and that always pays off," former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki recently said about Sabally.
In the final, Satou Sabally could play against her sister
In this year's playoffs, Sabally has reached the semifinals with Dallas against the number one seeded Las Vegas Aces. In the best-of-five series, three victories are necessary to advance to the final series. The first match will take place on September 24.
Should Dallas make it to the finals, there could be a family duel. The New York Liberty also made it to the semi-finals and are a possible opponent for the title. Sabally's sister Nyara is under contract in New York. In her first WNBA year, however, she is only a supplementary player and did not play in the 90-85 win against the Washington Mystics.
ast/dpa/Reuters