The WNBA won't pay its top star to sit out despite a note from her doctor suggesting she avoid the 'bubble'

• Washington Mystics superstar Elena Delle Donne petitioned the WNBA for a medical opt-out from the 2020 "bubble" season due to her chronic Lyme disease.
• A panel of doctors selected by the league and the players association rejected her opt-out request despite receiving a letter from her physician recommending that she avoid the bubble and unnecessary risk of exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic.
• The two-time WNBA MVP and six-time All-Star will now have to choose between risking her health to play the season and forgoing her $215,000 salary to stay home.

Players from across the WNBA have flocked to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, to begin preparing for the 2020 season.

But one of the league's brightest stars hasn't been there.

Two-time WNBA MVP and six-time All-Star Elena Delle Donne has yet to join her Washington Mystics teammates in "The Bubble" due to health concerns related to her chronic Lyme disease. She petitioned the league for a medical opt-out from the 2020 season out of fear that she's at higher risk for having a severe reaction should she contract COVID-19.

According to the 6-foot-5 sharpshooter, the WNBA rejected her request to sit out the season due to medical risk, even though she submitted a letter from her physician recommending that she avoid all forms of unnecessary exposure to others during the pandemic. This includes skipping a trip to the bubble to defend her MVP status and her team's title.

"I love my team, and we had an unbelievable season last year, and I want to play!" Delle Donne said in a statement, per ESPN. "But the question is whether or not the WNBA bubble is safe for me. My personal physician, who has treated me for Lyme disease for years, advised me that I'm at high risk for contracting and having complications from COVID-19."

The WNBA's medical evaluation protocol allows players like Delle Donne to request an exemption from the 2020 season without penalty. If the committee of doctors — which was selected by the league and the players association — determines a player is at high risk of experiencing complications from COVID-19, that player would be permitted to abstain from play while still receiving her full salary.

In Delle Donne's case, though, the panel of physicians did not deem her "high risk" despite her long, public history of living with Lyme disease and her own doctor's contradictory finding. According to ESPN, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not identify Lyme disease as one of the conditions that put individuals at a heightened risk after catching COVID-19.

"The independent panel of doctors the league appointed to review high-risk cases have advised that I'm not high risk, and should be permitted to play in the bubble," Delle Donne said in her statement. "I'm thinking things over, talking to my doctor and my wife, and look forward to sharing what I ultimately plan to do very soon."

The ruling now forces Delle Donne to choose between traveling to Florida to play through the 2020 season despite the potential health risk and forgoing her $215,000 salary to stay in the comfort and safety of her home. Though her agent described Delle Donne as expressing "disbelief" when first learning of the decision, the WNBA's lone member of the illustrious 50-40-90 club recognizes that she's far from the only person facing a similar dilemma right now.

"My heart has gone out to everyone who has had to choose between their health and having an income," Delle Donne said. "And of course to anyone who has lost their job, their home, and anyone they love in this pandemic."

The 2020 WNBA season tips off on July 25 with a battle between Sue Bird's Seattle Storm and Sabrina Ionescu's New York Liberty at noon. Washington's first game of the year comes later that day against the Indiana Fever.

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