{"id":639930,"date":"2026-05-13T04:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/639930\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:53:08","slug":"questions-surround-fudds-status-after-top-pick-sits-in-home-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/639930\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions surround Fudd’s status after top pick sits in home debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2014 When\u00a0Azzi Fudd came off the bench<\/a> in the Dallas Wings\u2019 season-opening win<\/a> over the Indiana Fever last weekend, fans and commentators questioned why the 2026 No.1 pick did not start.<\/p>\n

Now bigger questions surround\u00a0Fudd, who in 18 minutes vs. Indiana scored three points on just two shot attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coming off a long college season that included a run to the Final Four, the\u00a0UConn product tore her ACL and MCL in 2019 and tore her ACL and medial meniscus in 2023. Both injuries occurred in her right knee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to get into the minutes situation on the opening night,\u201d Fernandez said pregame. \u201cOut of an abundance of caution and her long-term health, we\u2019re keeping her out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

When another reporter pressed for more information, it started a somewhat tense exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to discuss anything medically in regards to her or what she has done in practice, what she hasn\u2019t done in practice,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cShe\u2019s a big part of this team. There\u2019s a reason why we drafted her No. 1 and she\u2019s going to have a great season for the Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez said he and\u00a0Fudd had a \u201cvery good\u201d phone call on his way to the arena.<\/p>\n

\u201c … It\u2019s a long season. She just finished playing a long season and we have to put her in the best position to be successful,\u201d Fernandez said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Paige\u00a0Bueckers, the Wings\u2019 No. 1 pick in 2025, also came off a long season that included a national championship at UConn before arriving to the WNBA.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s gone on record that she\u2019s struggled with patellar\u00a0tendinitis since high school, and the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year tore her ACL in August 2022, ahead of her junior season at UConn.<\/p>\n

Bueckers said pregame Tuesday that she had to learn how to recover when she became a pro.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried needling for the first time. I hate needles. But it helped my patellar tendon for sure,\u201d\u00a0Bueckers said. \u201c … It was my first year doing epsom salt baths. [Just] doing things to better recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she also missed some games last season for load management reasons. The Wings often rested\u00a0Bueckers in times when they played back-to-backs.<\/p>\n

While questions surround\u00a0Fudd\u2019s status, especially after her limited minutes in the season opener, the Wings could just be easing in their No. 1 pick, who has experienced repeated misfortune with her right knee.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2014 When\u00a0Azzi Fudd came off the bench in the Dallas Wings\u2019 season-opening win over the Indiana Fever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[16393,99,249343,248033,434],"class_list":["post-639930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-azzi-fudd","tag-sports","tag-tp-dallas-wings","tag-tp-paige-bueckers","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}