Angel McCoughtry missed her second straight game Friday night for what the team is calling "personal reasons" but it doesn't take much of a detective to see that something doesn't seem quite right with the whole situation. McCoughtry sat out Wednesday's win over the Chicago Sky but took part in a pregame ceremony honoring her and head coach Marynell Meadors for gold medal performance in the Olympics. After that McCoughtry didn't join her teammates on the bench as pointed out by writer Richard B. Cohen.
McCoughtry was on the other side of the floor sitting opposite the Sky bench throughout the game. She didn't even join the player huddle after the game finished, as far as I could see. Asked afterwards if McCoughtry would play in Atlanta's next game, Meadors said "I don't know. I can't answer that."
Which brings us to Friday night's game against the Washington Mystics. McCoughtry didn't travel with the team and her Twitter feed indicates that she spent Thursday night on the town while her teammates were making their way to the nation's capital.
Meadors only comments on the situation with McCoughtry were that she is "day-to-day" and that the "team hopes to have her back soon." It is completely possible that McCoughtry could have something personal that she is dealing with but her actions seem to suggest otherwise. It's also possible that this is some sort of unannounced suspension.
Whatever the case it is bad news for the Dream who just got back the services of Erika de Souza only to see Angel leave the lineup. If this is a conduct issue then the team has done a good job of keeping things under wraps.
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