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Janell Burse has faced the choice between surgery, which would cost her a chance to play overseas, and playing through the injury.
Last fall, with a good contract offer from USK Praha in the Czech Republic in hand, Burse decided to postpone the surgery. Now, as first reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Tuesday morning, Burse, 28, is rethinking that decision and strongly considering having the surgery after the Storm's season.
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Undergoing surgery and rehabbing the shoulder would sideline Burse for five to six months - basically an entire WNBA off-season. So long to overseas play.
However, Burse must weigh that loss against the fact that her injury - a torn labrum in her left shoulder - will not heal without surgery, leaving her vulnerable to having the shoulder pop out of its socket, or sublux. That has happened twice since Burse rejoined the Storm from Praha earlier this month. Because of the rehabilitation Burse has done to strengthen the shoulder, neither injury has kept her out for more than the day it occurred. Still, the next incident with the shoulder is a matter of when, not if.
"My hope is she gets through the season and is healthy and doesn't have too many incidents or any big incidents that take her out of our lineup," said Storm Head Coach 
Anne Donovan. "I'm concerned about it, as I was last season, but hopefully she can get it taken care of and that will be a problem behind us."
Burse won't make a final decision on whether to have surgery until later this summer, when she knows what kind of offers are made for her to play overseas. How her shoulder responds to the WNBA season will probably also be a factor, as will the fact that a break in her schedule could help out her entire body - not just her shoulder - and be fun after playing year-round for some time. Burse wants fans to understand this is a difficult decision for her to make.
"I don't have my whole life to play basketball and I am trying to make money now," she explained. "People don't realize that when they sit back and say, 'Why didn't she have surgery?' I didn't have surgery because I'm trying to make a life out of this. It's hard for people on the outside looking in, but most athletes that I talk to, they 100% understand.
"It's the same thing with 
Lauren (Jackson) and getting rods put in her shins. She never stopped playing to get that done because she was making too much money. It's the same thing. We just play through our injuries and hope they don't get worse - and at the same time be able to make some money."
From Donovan's perspective, Burse having surgery would be a relief.
"I wanted her to get it done last year after the season she had with us," Donovan said. "I knew it was a problem and it was going to be an ongoing, recurring problem. We talked about that last off-season and she chose not to do that. She came back talking about doing it this next off-season - not just to clear her shoulder up but to give her body some rest. It seems like the timing is going to make sense for her."
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