New York (AP) Sato and Nayara Sabali weren’t competing with each other growing up in Germany. Their mother made sure of that.
The sisters, who are two years apart in age, will play against each other for the first time when Dallas visits New York on Sunday for a nationally televised WNBA game on ABC.
“You know, our mother, she always used the Klitschko brothers as an example. She said, yeah, their mother never wanted them to fight each other. And I think that carries something that he passed on to us,” said Sato, who is two years older than Nayara. “So we’ll never have to compete or fight against each other. We want to hold each other high. And yes, like I said, we’ll shine individually, but each one in his own way. But we never…we’ll never fight like that.”
Nayara agreed that they had no sibling rivalry at all.
“We might have played horse at some point,” she said, “but no, we’re not going to play 1v1 because it really wasn’t my thing.” “We’re both excited to share the word, whether it’s with or against each other, because we’ve never done that before.”
Nayara said her brother and sister-in-law will attend the match, while Sabalez’s parents will watch the match in Germany.
“She will cry. She will cry tears in her eyes,” Sato said of her mother. “I knew it.”
This isn’t the first time the sisters have toured the WNBA. Former #1 draft pick Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike were playing against each other when Nneka was in Los Angeles and Chiney was in Connecticut. Samuelson’s sisters, Katie Lou and Carly, also played against each other. Now both spouses of the sister are teammates in Los Angeles.
Saballys was teammates on the Oregon side, but he never got a chance to be on the field at the same time. Nayara tore her anterior cruciate ligament before her freshman year and then re-torn it while playing for the German national team.
When the younger Sabali was finally healthy enough to play, her older sister declared for the WNBA Draft, and left school early. Sato was ranked second by the Dallas Wings in 2020. Nayara was named fifth overall by the New York Liberty in 2022. She sat out last season while recovering from a right knee injury sustained in college.
“All through college she would say every time, Sato, I just want to play.” And I know that every time she came back to the NCAA Tournament here, she always looked great,” Sato said. “And I think she’s now reached a state where she’s adapted to America. You know, coming from a different country, there’s a lot of time to adjust. And now I think her body got to a point where she finally did it and it’s very explosive and good. “
Nayara has played about 10 minutes a game in New York this season and made the most of her time, averaging 5.3 points. Sato, who struggled with the same injuries early in her career, playing just 44 games in her first three years, is looking great so far this season. She scores 22.4 points on average and 10.6 rebounds for the Wings.
The duo hopes to get a chance to play together in the future in the German national team. Germany will host the 2026 Women’s World Cup.
“I’m sacrificing the summer now with Germany to play here, but I think we’ll do it, on a bigger stage,” said Sato. “We will definitely try to play together again.”
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Associated Press sportswriter Stephen Hawkins in Arlington, Texas, contributed to this story.
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