{"id":665596,"date":"2026-05-13T01:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/665596\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T01:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:02:13","slug":"azzi-fudd-will-have-to-continue-waiting-for-her-first-wings-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/665596\/","title":{"rendered":"Azzi Fudd Will Have to Continue Waiting for Her First Wings Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

After originally being labeled as probable for Tuesday night\u2019s Wings vs. Dream matchup, Azzi Fudd was downgraded to out<\/a> for the contest just a couple hours before tip-off. Her first WNBA matchup against Angel Reese will have to wait.<\/p>\n

Dallas listed the No. 1 pick as having a right knee issue, although an official diagnosis hasn\u2019t been given yet. There\u2019s also currently no return timeline for Fudd. The Wings play next at home on Thursday, May 14 vs. the Lynx.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t sound like the team is too concerned about Fudd being out for a long period. Wings coach Jose Fernandez gave a pretty firm answer about why the guard is out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of an abundance of caution and her long-term health, we\u2019re keeping her out tonight,\u201d Fernandez said, via Wings reporter Drake Keeler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move is solely a precautionary one, so hopefully we\u2019ll see Fudd back on the court this week or in the near future.<\/p>\n

Fudd only has one game under her belt after the Wings beat the Fever 107\u2013104 on Saturday in their season opener. The top pick made some unfortunate history during her WNBA debut, though, as she only made one basket and scored three points in 18 minutes played off the bench, the least amount of points posted by a No. 1 pick in their debut. <\/p>\n

Fernandez didn\u2019t start Fudd on Saturday<\/a>, leaving a question mark on Fudd\u2019s chances of joining the starting five anytime soon. Now that the team is being cautious about Fudd\u2019s injury status, there\u2019s a possibility the injury pushed back her timeline of being added to the starting lineup. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs she capable of doing [starting]? Yes, she is. When it does happens, I think she\u2019ll be ready,\u201d Fernandez told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n

Fudd not starting in her WNBA debut was a controversial topic across the league, especially when other first-round draft picks started in their respective debuts. No. 2 pick Olivia Miles started for the Lynx against the Dream and led her team in scoring with 21 points and in assists with eight. No. 5 pick Gabriela Jaquez started for the Sky vs. the Fire and posted 10 points and seven rebounds. No. 8 pick Flau\u2019jae Johnson made her first start for the Storm against the Sun and led her team in scoring with 16 points, while also recording six rebounds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s somewhat rare for a No. 1 pick to not immediately earn a role in the starting five, especially in recent memory. Fudd\u2019s teammate Paige Bueckers has remained in the starting lineup since she was drafted No. 1 overall last year. Caitlin Clark, the 2024 first overall pick, also started right off the bat with the Fever. <\/p>\n

Fans are definitely still confused why the Wings elected not to start Fudd on Saturday, and now we will continue waiting to see if Fudd can prove her abilities to be promoted to a starting role. Fudd will earn that position at some point this season, but we\u2019ll see how long it takes. <\/p>\n

More WNBA from Sports Illustrated\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After originally being labeled as probable for Tuesday night\u2019s Wings vs. Dream matchup, Azzi Fudd was downgraded to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-665596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}