{"id":641143,"date":"2026-05-13T19:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641143\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:06:13","slug":"why-uconns-azzi-fudd-was-out-for-dallas-wings-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/641143\/","title":{"rendered":"Why UConn’s Azzi Fudd was out for Dallas Wings home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> fans got an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu on Tuesday night when former Huskies star Azzi Fudd<\/a> was ruled out of the Dallas Wings<\/a>\u00a0home opener against the Atlanta Dream with a right knee injury.<\/p>\n

On Monday night before the matchup against Atlanta, Fudd appeared on the Wings\u2019 injury report<\/a> listed as probable with a right knee injury, but she was downgraded to out<\/a> an hour before Tuesday\u2019s game. Fudd was selected No. 1 overall by Dallas in the 2026 WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Injuries plagued Fudd throughout her five seasons with the Huskies, and her right knee in particular has been a point of concern dating back to high school. Fudd tore her right ACL and MCL in 2019<\/a> while competing in a 3-on-3 tournament hosted by USA Basketball, and she tore the same ACL and her meniscus<\/a> two games into her junior season at UConn in 2023. The star guard also missed 11 games with a foot injury her freshman year, then 22 as a sophomore with a left knee injury. The 2023 ACL tear kept her out of the first three games of the 2024-25 season, and she suffered a sprain in her right knee five games after returning to the court that sidelined her for another three.<\/p>\n

Fudd came back from the sprain to help lead UConn to the 2025 NCAA championship, earning the Final Four\u2019s Most Outstanding Player award<\/a>. She played the first complete season of her college career this past season and was named a consensus first-team All-American.<\/p>\n

Azzi Fudd\u2019s finish is heartbreaking, but she leaves UConn women with a legacy of resilience<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fudd played in Dallas\u2019 season opening win<\/a>\u00a0over the Indiana Fever on May 9, but after starting in both of the team\u2019s preseason games, she came off the bench in her WNBA debut and played just 18 minutes. She was the first No. 1 overall pick to come off the bench in their first game since Kelsey Plum in 2017, and her three points were the fewest scored in a top pick\u2019s debut since Janel McCarville in 2005.<\/p>\n

Wings coach Jose Fernandez declined to comment on whether Fudd\u2019s knee injury was connected to her limited playing time in the opener. The Dallas Morning News reported<\/a> Wednesday that the rookie guard began experiencing swelling around her right knee after Dallas\u2019 second preseason game against the Las Vegas Aces on May 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to get into the minutes situation on the opening night,\u201d Fernandez said pregame Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m not going to discuss anything medically in regards to her, what she has done in practice, what she hasn\u2019t done in practice. She\u2019s a big part of this team, there\u2019s a reason we drafted her No. 1, and she\u2019s going to have a great season for the Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez said the decision to hold Fudd out against Atlanta was \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d suggesting that the issue was not expected to have long-term ramifications. Fernandez also there \u201cweren\u2019t any concerns whatsoever\u201d about Fudd\u2019s health while going through the scouting process ahead of the WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing for her is, it\u2019s a long season, and she just finished playing a long (college) season,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cWe have to put her in the best position to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wings lost 77-72 to the Dream on Tuesday, falling to 1-1 on the season after opening on a 107-104 victory in Indiana. Fudd\u2019s next opportunity to get on the court could come Thursday when Dallas hosts the Minnesota Lynx and No. 2 draft pick Olivia Miles.<\/p>\n

UConn star Azzi Fudd \u2018couldn\u2019t be happier\u2019 to join Dallas Wings as No. 1 WNBA Draft pick<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UConn women\u2019s basketball fans got an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu on Tuesday night when former Huskies star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3444,16393,4044,2000,15861,2834,15862,2839,135061,52575,983,168221,99,31478,31477,434,2088],"class_list":["post-641143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-azzi-fudd","tag-college-basketball","tag-connecticut","tag-ct-news","tag-dallas-wings","tag-hartford-courant","tag-indiana-fever","tag-jose-fernandez","tag-knee-injury","tag-local-news","tag-max-image-preview","tag-sports","tag-uconn-huskies","tag-uconn-womens-basketball","tag-wnba","tag-womens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641143","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=641143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}