Dream forward McCoughtry eyes return to hoops
ATLANTA — Angel McCoughtry has no regrets about becoming the latest WNBA player to sit out the season to rest and recover from playing professional basketball year-round.
“I’m not waking up aching, nothing is hurting right now,” said the 30-year-old Atlanta Dream forward. “It’s a good feeling.”
Having not played in a game since May, McCoughtry said she is physically ready for a return to basketball. She will start playing again late next month at a USA Basketball camp in California before returning to Russia in October to join the EuroLeague’s Dynamo Kursk.
McCoughtry has been playing year-round in the WNBA and overseas for eight straight years and said she felt the nonstop grind was
starting to take its toll.
McCouhtry decided to sit out the 2017 WNBA season to recover, both physically and mentally, in an effort to prolong her career. Candace Parker sat out part of the 2015 season to rest and Diana Taurasi missed the entire 2015 season.
McCoughtry said she was dealing with with pain from plantar fasciitis and tendinitis, so she announced her decision in January.
“We need that” rest, said McCoughtry, who said she has followed the Dream and even attended a game last week. “Who can play basketball all year with no break for years and years and years? We’re not machines, we’re not robots. It’s (illogical), so you really need that time off just for your mental, number one, and then for your body.”
McCoughtry said mentally she is relishing her longest break from the game since college. During her time off, she has taken a trip to Africa with her partner Brande Serrano, tried boxing and yoga to stay in shape and opened her own ice cream stop.
The shop is called McCoughtry’s and is located in Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill area.
McCoughtry said she was inspired to open an ice cream shop by her sweet tooth. Other WNBA players — Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird, Minnesota’s Maya Moore, Los Angeles’ Alana Beard and Indiana’s Marissa Coleman — have also invested in the food industry.