Chicago Sky star Elena Delle Donne suffered a thumb injury in her Sept. 7 game against the Washington Mystics and is out indefinitely. 

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Delle Donne Requires Surgery

Sept. 12

According to the team's official Twitter account, the former MVP will undergo surgery Tuesday.

Delle Donne was averaging a league-leading 22.1 points per game to go with 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 blocks before the injury. The WNBA playoffs are set to begin Sept. 21.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Sky have a 16-15 record and are in a three-way tie for second place in the Eastern Conference. Although they have already clinched a playoff spot, they will jockey for position against the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream over the next week.

This will not be easy without Delle Donne, who has become one of the best all-around talents in the WNBA.

The 6'5" player from Delaware was the 2013 Rookie of the Year and continued to improve before becoming the 2015 Most Valuable Player. She ranked first in the league with 23.4 points per game while finishing third with 8.4 rebounds per game last year.

She was also named to the All-Star Game in each of her first three seasons in the league.

Delle Donne played a role on the United States women's basketball team that brought home a gold medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

As Jon Fawkes of WNBA.com noted, the versatile player had been peaking at the right time heading into the postseason:

WNBA @WNBA

May: 18.8 June: 20.4 July: 23.4 August: 26.0 September: 28.5 (thru 2 games) EDD's ppg by month. What's the reason?

Unfortunately, the Sky will now have to learn how to win without their best player. Cappie Pondexter is the only other player on the team who is averaging double figures for the season and will have to step up offensively, while Allie Quigley should also see a bigger role moving forward.