Azzi Fudd’s rookie season is over. On Wednesday, the Dallas Wings announced that the rookie will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on her right knee to deal with ongoing soreness that’ll keep her out the remainder of the 2026 WNBA campaign. The operation is set to take place in Connecticut early next week.
Fudd has missed the last five games and also sat out the second game of the year due to the ailment. Her right knee is the same one in which she’s torn her ACL twice.
As a rookie, Fudd ranks fifth
in the league with 1.7 steals to go along with 13.1 points on 45.6 percent shooting overall and 39.7 percent shooting from three. She started 24 of 30 games for the Wings and lead all rookies with 31.7 minutes per night. Fudd also became the first rookie to win the WNBA 3-point contest.
Fudd has dealt with knee injuries throughout her career. In 2019, she tore her ACL and MCL while playing 3×3 basketball. During her sophomore year at UConn, she suffered an injury to the same knee after Aaliyah Edwards fell into her right leg. She missed eight games, returned for six quarters, then re-injured the knee and sat out another 14 contests.
The following season, Fudd tore her right ACL again in practice and was sidelined for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign. She returned four games into the 2024-25 season, then sprained the same right knee against Louisville. That kept out out another three contests but came back and went on to be named Final Four Most Outstanding Player. This past year — her only healthy campaign at UConn — she earned unanimous First Team All-American honors.
The Wings currently sit in eighth place in the WNBA standings with a 20-16 record.
