What season-ending injury to No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd means for Wings’ WNBA playoff chances originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Azzi Fudd’s rookie season reached an unceremonious end on Wednesday afternoon. The Wings announced that their standout newcomer will miss the remainder of the year due to right knee soreness.
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Fudd, 23, enjoyed an All-Rookie-caliber campaign in Dallas colors, ranking fourth in points on the team while sinking the 13th-most threes in the league. She’ll undergo surgery to remedy her issue, which affects the same knee that suffered torn ACLs in high school and college.
Here’s what you need to know about Fudd’s injury, including how it affects Dallas’ playoff pursuit.
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What season-ending injury to Azzi Fudd means for Wings’ playoff chances
The Wings have been in dire form as of late, dropping seven of their last 10 games to sink to the bottom of the playoff picture. They remain tethered to the No. 8 seed, 4.5 games above the Fire. But Fudd’s absence should loom large on Jose Fernandez’s side.
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The UConn product is comfortably Dallas’ best shooter and perimeter defender. With her on the floor, the Wings posted a 111.9 offensive rating and 106.8 defensive rating. Without her, those numbers sit at 107.1 and 117.6, respectively, per The Wings Bulletin’s Landon Thomas.
When Fudd played, Dallas looked like a comfortable playoff team. Without her, the Wings’ defense looks like one of the worst in the league. Dallas’ Net rating without Fudd sits at -10.5, 1.3 points lower than the Sun‘s league-worst Net rating, per Databallr.
The Wings are still in the driver’s seat to return to the playoffs, having done enough in the first half of the season to give themselves a little cushion above the likes of Portland and Chicago. But if Dallas continues to free-fall, things could get hairy for the team in its final few games.
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What happened to Azzi Fudd?
Fudd was cut down by right knee soreness, Dallas announced on Wednesday. She will return to Connecticut to undergo an arthroscopic procedure to relieve the sensation, ending her season prematurely.
Fudd last played in a WNBA game on Aug. 8, scoring nine points on 2-of-8 shooting as the Wings fell to the Mystics. She took part in practice as recently as Aug. 11
“The most important thing is her health and her return to play and her longevity,” Fernandez told The XI’s Drake Keeler before Dallas’ Aug. 12 matchup with the Tempo.
Fudd was dogged by knee soreness trouble throughout her rookie campaign. She missed Dallas’ season-opener with the ailment, with Fernandez saying her absence was “out of an abundance of caution and her long-term health”, per Keeler.
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Fudd made her WNBA debut one game later and settled into a rhythm, joining the Wings’ starting ranks on May 27. She averaged 33.6 minutes a night after being placed in the starting lineup, one of the highest figures in the league.
Fudd was a late scratch for Dallas’ Aug. 7 matchup with Golden State. She was ruled questionable ahead of the Wings’ Aug. 11 tilt with the Lynx but failed to play.
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Fernandez suggested that the team planned on bringing Fudd back into the fold at some point this season, saying Fudd was “in return to play protocol” on Aug. 12. Something appears to have changed in the week since Fernandez made those comments; Fudd will now have to watch on from the sidelines as Dallas attempts to lock up a playoff berth for the first time since 2023.
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Azzi Fudd injury history
Fudd has a checkered history with right knee injuries. She tore the ACL and MCL in her right knee in 2019 and underwent two surgeries to reconstruct it.
Fudd returned to the floor in January 2020. Despite her injury, she retained her status as the nation’s No. 1 player. Despite interest from a number of blue-chip programs, Fudd committed to UConn.
She missed five weeks with a right knee injury after a teammate fell on her knee in December 2022. In November 2023, Fudd tore the ACL and meniscus in her right knee during a Huskies practice. She was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
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Wings record without Azzi Fudd
The Wings have struggled mightily when Fudd is not in their lineup. They boast a dismal 1-5 record without Fudd compared to a 19-11 record with her in the lineup.
When Fudd is healthy, Dallas plays like a top-five team in the league. When she’s absent, the team sinks to lottery-level play, albeit in a small sample size.
