"I felt my knee go from side to side, kind of buckle, it was gross," Tolo said.

"I didn't go to ground, I was jumping around for a bit on the other leg.

"The girls asked me what happened and I said I did my ACL.

"I knew I did it from the movement everyone had told me before."

Tolo was playing for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA midway through the first quarter of their game against Indiana on August 26.

Scans revealed what the 26-year-old had already instinctively known - a torn ACL and a recovery period of between nine and 12 months.

It leaves one of Australia's most improving "bigs" in a race against the clock to be fit for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"I have the best motivation to do my rehab right, which is to try to make the Olympic team for next year," Tolo said.

"Ideally it would be nice to have the full 12 months to get ready before I started playing, but it's 11 months from the Olympics now.

"If everything goes well I should be right to go at eight or nine months, but that just depends on me, depends on the rehab, depends on everything.

"Just have to take it as it comes."

Tolo flew to Melbourne on Monday to meet with her surgeon ahead of going under the knife for her first knee reconstruction.

She will then return to Canberra to continue her rehabilitation at Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence at the AIS.

Tolo was in the middle of her first season in the WNBA, averaging 4.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 block in 19 minutes per game for the Sparks.

"I felt like I was getting a lot better, getting quicker at rebounding and just playing against some of the best in the world was a great experience," Tolo said. "It was rough at the start because we lost our first million games, and finally, on my birthday, we got our first win.

"It started to lift up a bit from there. It was nice to finally have a summer after three years of winter."

Tolo spent the past three years playing in France, but was due to play in Turkey this season before her knee injury.

She also received an inquiry from the Canberra Capitals to see if she would consider a short stint back in the WNBL between seasons.

While back in Canberra, Tolo lent her support to the Say No to Racism program in ACT schools.

"I talked about my experiences because my parents are Bosnian," Tolo said.

"We never learnt the Bosnian language as a kid so that we wouldn't speak funny and my name is spelt non-traditionally.

"The kids growing up these days are so much better."