The Connecticut Sun’s bad mojo keeps rolling on.

Connecticut announced Monday that veteran forward Kelsey Griffin will miss the entire 2015 WNBA season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her left hip last Friday. She’s the fifth player to be injured before the start of the season and the second lost to injury.

Griffin’s surgery required a micro-fracture procedure and was performed by team physician Ammar Anbari at the Constitution Surgical Center in Waterford. The recovery time is at least three months.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Griffin said in a statement. “I was really excited about the season and the direction the group was headed. But if I’ve learned one thing from my other surgery (on her ankle in college), it’s that the time off gives you perspective. It will make me more appreciative of the game, and I truly believe I will come back stronger, hungrier and better than ever.”

Griffin made 2 of 3 3-pointers for 8 points with 5 rebounds in a 78-68 preseason win over Indiana on May 23. Her injury leaves Connecticut thin at power forward as Camille Little and reserve Kayla Pedersen are the only veteran players on the roster at that position.

“Kelsey is an underrated player in this league, but I clearly know her value to this team and all the things she brings,” Sun head coach Anne Donovan said in a statement. “It’s all the things that don’t show up in the stat sheet, and that makes her a big loss for us.”

Griffin was selected third overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010 draft and traded moments later to the Sun. She’s played in 164 games over the past five seasons, amassing 801 points and 683 rebounds. She and guard Allison Hightower, who was drafted in the second round in 2010, are Connecticut’s longest tenured players.

The Sun have been ravaged by injuries. Post Chiney Ogwumike is sidelined indefinitely after having microfracture surgery on her right knee in late January. She led the team in scoring (15.5) and ranked seven in the WNBA in rebounding (8.5) and tops in offensive rebounds (4.0).

Hightower is also out for an undetermined time after having cartilage removed from her right knee in March. She’s been a three-year starter, but missed 33 games over the past two seasons. That includes 20 games missed last year after needing an arthroscopic debridement procedure on her left knee.

Reserve wing Danielle McCray tore her right anterior cruciate ligament in April and was waived.

Veteran guard Katie Douglas was forced to retire in May due to back issues. She was a 2015 WNBA All-Star and led the team in minutes played last season (32.5) and second in scoring (13.2).

Connecticut opens its regular season Friday when it plays host to the Washington Mystics (7 p.m.)

Board of Governors looks at Thomas ownership

Isiah Thomas' partial ownership petition for the New York Liberty is being vetted by a committee of owners from the WNBA's Board of Governors the league announced Monday.

Connecticut's Mitchell Etess, Chicago's Michael Alter, Seattle's Ginny Gilder, Minnesota's Roger Griffith, Washington's Sheila Johnson and San Antonio's Rick Pych make up the committee.

Having a committee review Thomas' application is nothing out of the ordinary for the league's Board of Governors.

Thomas had an unsuccessful stint as coach and president of the New York Knicks from December 2003 to April 2008. After being fired as coach, he remained with the team in an unspecified role, even after a lawsuit brought by former team employee Anucha Browne Sanders cost Madison Square Garden $11.5 million in a settlement. Sanders alleged she was sexually harassed by Thomas, who was not found personally liable.

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED

An Associated Press story was included in this story