Mohegan — Kelsey Griffin sat on a trainer’s table after Tuesday’s practice, a pair of crutches to her left, and talked about just being waived by the Connecticut Sun.

Remarkably, she smiled the whole time.

“I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” Griffin said.

The Sun suspended guard Allison Hightower and waived Griffin, a forward, on Tuesday since neither will play this season due to injury. The moves were done to clear roster space, and they are the third and fourth players Connecticut has lost to injury since April.

“The business side of it, it looks so impersonal when it’s such a personal thing to have two players who’ve been with the franchise since the beginning of their careers to both exit like this,” Sun head coach Anne Donovan said. “How it looks on paper, in terms of waiving somebody and suspending somebody, it makes it look very impersonal, and it’s just not the case.”

Griffin said, “We’ve been really injury-plagued and gotten down to (the point) where we needed (medical) waivers, and we’re not even through training camp. … I understand it."

Griffin had a micro-fracture procedure performed on her left hip last Friday. She and the team didn’t think she’d miss the season prior to arthroscopic surgery until team physician Ammar Anbari realized the extent of the injury.

Hightower had cartilage removed from her right knee in March while playing in Israel.

The Sun cleared roster spots by designating both players. Griffin will be paid for the season since she was injured playing for the team, with her salary counting towards the salary cap. She’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Hightower is on the second year of a four-year deal. She will not be paid and will not count towards the cap. A team may carry up to 12 players.

“(Griffin) knows how important she is to her organization and we want her back,” Sienko said. “We've made that very clear. Even at the end of the season, had she played, she still would’ve been an unrestricted free agent. This (injury) unfortunately happened, we waived her, and now we can bring in another person to fill that spot, and then we’ll go out of way to get her back here next year.

“(Hightower was) expected to be back in 6-to-8 weeks (after surgery). That didn’t happen. She came to camp and she’s not ready to play, unfortunately, and she’s working very hard. The girl is doing everything she possibly can, but she’s just not recuperating the way she or her doctors thought. And, ultimately, based upon our own team doctors thinking that she won’t be playing for the foreseeable future, it made the most sense to go forward with that suspension.”

Hightower has missed 35 games due to knee injuries the last two seasons. She’s a three-year starter and a 2013 All-Star. Griffin has been one of the team’s top reserves. She averaged 19.2 minutes and 5.1 rebounds last season.

“Connecticut has been great to me,” Griffin said. “I would love to come back. I know the team definitely wants me back. … At the same time, I do have to weigh my options if other teams are interested and if it looks like it would be a better direction. I’d definitely have to entertain that because it’s a business, but Connecticut has been so great to me that there’s no reason why I wouldn’t return if it’s the best option for me.”

Griffin will be at Friday's season opener against the Washington Mystics at Mohegan Sun Arena. She'll return to her native Alaska on Saturday.

"The last time that I had an injury that put me out for a season, it was one of the biggest game-changers of my career," Griffin said. "That was my first senior year in college (Nebraska), and I really wouldn't be a professional player if I hadn't been injured.

"I'm really hopeful for what this time off will do for my perspective, and I think it will give me a lot of time to work on the things that I need to work on. I also get to regroup mentally, freshen up and come back better than ever. I'm excited about where I'll be on the other side of this injury."

Connecticut has lost four players to injury since March. Reserve wing Danielle McCray tore her right anterior cruciate ligament playing in Israel in April and was waived. Guard Katie Douglas, a 2015 All-Star, was forced to retire in May due to her back.

Starting post Chiney Ogwuimke, last season’s WNBA Rookie of the Year, is out indefinitely after having microfracture surgery on her right knee in late January.

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED