In a perfect world Chelsea Gray would be suiting up for the Connecticut Sun rather than taking over the team's Twitter account for the evening.

But after seeing her junior and senior years at Duke end prematurely due to serious knee injuries, Gray has needed to proceed slowly in the rehabilitation process.

Her plan is to return to the court playing somewhere in Europe beginning in either December or January.

"I am not rushing to process, last time I rushed it a little bit," Gray said before Friday's game against Washington.

"I am working every week traveling to Beverly Hills every week and I have done a little bit of 5 on 5 so I have had some contact and my knee feels better than ever," Gray said.

Gray said she has been doing the 5 on 5 drills for about a month or perhaps a little less.

Now she is eager to hit the court running.

"I am excited for that day to come," Gray said. "It feels a lot better, my quad feels a lot stronger, my knee feels more stable."

While the injury she suffered as a senior was similar to the one she dealt with as a junior, they were not identical and she believes there will be no third knee injury in her future.

She is looking forward to joining a young nucleus of Sun players including rookies Chiney Ogwumike and Alyssa Thomas, her ACC rival for four years.

"We got past that, we are good friends now," Gray said with a laugh about her relationship with Thomas. "We are at a new level, a new horizon. I got past that and we are both excited for me to come here next year and for us to be teammates."

The Sun already has one of the four lottery picks and would be a second one if it were to lose to Washington since Connecticut owns the New York first-round pick acquired in the trade sending Tina Charles to the Liberty. Elizabeth Williams, Gray's former teammate at Duke, is among the top prospects available in the draft.

So what does Gray like about Williams' game?

"Athleticism all the way. I have never seen anybody do certain things, grab certain balls that she does and get up in the air like she does, she is quick off the ball, has a knack for the ball when she goes to rebound. She gets a lot of bumps and bruises out there but she tries her best to finish."

Although Williams wants to become a doctor down the road, Gray feels like she is committed to pursuing a professional basketball career first.

What would it be like if she were to team up with Williams in the pros?

"That would be great, you see that all of the time happen throughout the WNBA, two people who played in college play in the WNBA, what else can you ask for? You know them already, it is not like you have to adjust."