INDIANAPOLIS — When Indiana Fever forward Temi Fagbenle injured her thumb, she didn't want to believe it.

Fagbenle had a hot start to the season — she immediately integrated into the Fever's rotation, jelling quickly with rookie point guard Caitlin Clark as one of the only teammates (at the time) able to easily catch her cross-court passes. She broke into the starting lineup just seven games into the season, her defensive effort making it undeniable.

Then, she injured her foot on May 28. A month later, she was finally healthy again, coming off the bench to play Seattle on the road on June 27.

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Then, sometime in the middle of her 20-minute, eight-point effort in a Fever loss, she suffered another injury — this one to her thumb.

At first, she didn't accept it. She wore an aircast outside of practices and games, icing her thumb whenever she could. She played in two more games after the injury, logging 13 minutes against Phoenix on June 30 and 16 against Las Vegas on July 2. Eventually, she couldn't put it off any longer — her thumb needed time to heal.

"They shut me down," Fagbenle said. "I was in denial. I was injured in Seattle, then played two more games. I was just running on adrenaline, being angry, annoyed."

Fagbenle has now been shut down for almost two months with the thumb injury. She wore a hard cast for nearly a month, spanning most of the Olympic break, and she now has a smaller splint on that hand that keeps the thumb stable.

It's been frustrating for the 32-year-old forward — in her entire professional career, both in the WNBA and in Great Britain, she had never had consecutive injuries like this. Fagbenle, who showed a lot of promise as a lengthy, athletic forward at the beginning of the year, has only played 11 of the Fever's 28 games so far this season.

"Back-to-back injuries like that, it was definitely a mental struggle," Fagbenle said. "But I'm glad to see the light now."

Fever coach Christie Sides, optimistically, is hoping to see Fagbenle available for the Fever's next game against Minnesota in Minneapolis on Saturday. That starts a stretch of games every other day: They will head to Atlanta for a Monday night game, back to Indianapolis to play the Sun on Wednesday, go to Chicago on Friday, then Dallas on the following Sunday.

It's a big stretch of five games in nine days; the Fever will need depth to keep its starters fresh.

"So good to see Temi out here," Sides said. "When we finish, we're going to get together and see how she felt, and hopefully she's open for this weekend."

Coming out of the Olympic break, the Fever have continued their strong from (10-5 in past 15 games). Indiana opened the league restart with a third win over Phoenix, sweeping the Mercury for the first time since 2015. It followed that with an impressive home win over the Storm.

Indiana has a new sense of camaraderie that is helping their play, Fagbenle said. They're sticking up for themselves more often and locking in for four straight quarters.

Hopefully, she joked, her return to the court won't affect what the Fever have.

"I'm so proud of my team," Fagbenle said. "In some ways, I'm just like 'Ooh! Let me just keep watching so I don't mess up the mojo,' because we're looking great, but I'm glad to be on the way back, and hopefully I can add a little spark as well."

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever expect to get Temi Fagbenle back from injury soon