Rookie Elena Delle Donne feeling at home in WNBA

NEWARK, N.J. - Saturday's WNBA All-Star Game was supposed to be Elena Delle Donne's coronation. She was to start. She was the first rookie to receive the most votes.

The game was to be a celebration, not just for her but for a league that has had an influx of young, marketable stars this year.

But she suffered a concussion on Wednesday and announced on Friday that she will not play. On Thursday, fellow rookie and projected starter Brittney Griner announced she would also miss the game, with a sprained left knee.

So, for now, the celebration will wait.

"It's upsetting," said Delle Donne, who plays for the Chicago Sky, "not only for me but also for the fans who voted for me."

This was the first bump in what has been a flawless rookie season. The Sky drafted Delle Donne No. 2 overall this year, behind Griner. She is looking for a house in Chicago. She is comfortable there.

After the draft, Delle Donne predicted that the WNBA would be easier than college at Delaware. There, she drew double and triple teams.

"The WNBA will give me a lot of freedom," Delle Donne said.

Critics scoffed, but then she started playing. Now, Delle Donne's coach with the Chicago Sky compares her to Kevin Durant. ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck says Delle Donne already ranks among the game's elite. Her brother and agent, Gene, says Delle Donne wants to be what Mia Hamm was for women's soccer. She is 23.

But there was a time five years ago when she quit basketball.

Growing up in Delaware, Delle Donne was a folk hero. The stories were incredible. When she was three, she removed her bike's training wheels and taught herself to ride. After seventh grade, she was offered a scholarship to North Carolina. She once scored 50 points in a state championship game.

She went to the University of Connecticut as the nation's top recruit, but she was homesick. She left in the middle of the night after just two days. She said she couldn't bear to leave her blind and deaf older sister, Lizzie, who has autism and cerebral palsy and can only communicate through touch. She quit the sport and enrolled at Delaware, where she played volleyball. She didn't touch a basketball. That lasted a year.

After the volleyball season, Delle Donne considered a return. In her first workout, she didn't miss a shot, said Delaware coach Tina Martin. She averaged nearly 27 points a game over four years, though she was often double or triple teamed. And she visited Lizzie when she could.

In April, the Sky drafted Delle Donne second overall, behind Baylor's Griner. Together with third-overall pick Skylar Diggins, they make up the WNBA's "Three To See." They could do for the women's game what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did for the men's, Delle Donne said.

But friends and family worried how she would do away from home again. Then Delle Donne publicly said how easy it would be to make the transition.

"A lot of people took that the wrong way," said Sky coach Pokey Chatman. "Until a few games came by and they realized that OK, we understand now."

In Chicago, she surrounded herself with home. Her brother is her agent. Meghan McLean, her roommate and best friend, is her manager. She adopted a dog and named it Wrigley. She is creating a foundation for children with special needs.

The Seattle Storm's Tina Thompson called Delle Donne "the WNBA player of the future." At a recent autograph session, a girl cried uncontrollably at the chance to meet her. Thursday, for an 11 a.m. game at the New York Liberty, nearly 13,000 people showed up.

The Liberty explicitly discussed Delle Donne during warm-ups, but they couldn't contain her. At 6-foot-5, Delle Donne is taller than most and can shoot as well as anyone in the league.

"I used to tell her, if you can see the basket and they give it to you, there's no way they can block it," her teammate Swin Cash said.

Delle Donne took the Sky's first shot of the game, a three-pointer from the corner. Swish.

A few minutes later, Delle Donne had the ball at the top of the key and took her defender off the dribble. Her father had always made her handle the ball, even after she became tall. She stopped, pulled up to create space, and made an easy jumper.

The Sky led by 25 points entering the fourth quarter. Then Delle Donne caught a pass in traffic and muscled through the defense. In the offseason her longtime trainer, John Noonan, had jabbed her with boxing gloves as she tried to finish at the rim. Delle Donne was fouled, but she made the basket and added the free throw.

On the bench, the game well in hand, she smiled with her teammates. She finished with 23 points and the Sky won by 20.

She almost gave up this life, Delle Donne said after the game. She fidgeted and cupped her hand over the side of her mouth as she spoke, then noticed and removed it.

"I could've missed out on all this," Delle Donne said. "Which is really scary to think."

But Chicago feels right. The Sky have never made the playoffs, but with Delle Donne they are in first place in the East. She made her way to the car that would take her to the airport. The Sky had another game that weekend. An airplane was waiting to take them to Chicago. "Home," she said.