Dallas Wings rookie Azzi Fudd was ruled out for the second consecutive game Sunday, sitting out the team's road matchup against the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Lynx because of right knee soreness, according to Dallas News and Yahoo Sports. Fudd had been listed as questionable on the Wings' official injury report before the team made the final call ahead of the 3:30 p.m. ET tip-off in Minneapolis, broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft first felt discomfort in her right knee during pregame warmups before Friday's home loss to the Golden State Valkyries, according to The IX Sports. The Wings held her out of that game "out of an abundance of caution," the team said, and the same explanation applied to Sunday's absence against Minnesota. Dallas News reported that Wednesday's contest against the Washington Mystics was Fudd's last appearance, when she scored nine points in 34 minutes.
Fudd's absence adds to a rough stretch for Dallas, which enters Sunday on a two-game skid after falling to both the Mystics and the Valkyries earlier in the week. The 19-13 Wings are trying to keep pace with the league's top tier as the regular season moves into its second half. In Friday's 94-76 loss to Golden State, Dallas shot just 28% from three-point range and committed 13 turnovers against just eight assists, according to The IX Sports, a sign of how much the offense missed Fudd against one of the WNBA's best defenses. Paige Bueckers led the Wings with 17 points in that game, while Aziaha James added 13 points and four rebounds, per Yahoo Sports.
Dallas also enters Sunday without forward Alysha Clark, who is out with a back injury and will miss her third straight game, and without Constanza Verona, who is away from the team after the Wings temporarily suspended her contract Saturday, Yahoo Sports reported.
A History of Caution With Fudd's Knees
Fudd has now missed two games this season, both attributed to knee soreness, according to The IX Sports. Wings general manager Curt Miller has said the organization is intentionally cautious with the rookie guard given her history of knee injuries and the fact that she joined the WNBA after playing 39 games in her final college season at UConn. That conservative approach explains why a team fighting to hold playoff positioning would sit a starter for backtoback games rather than push through soreness.
Despite the missed time, Fudd has become a significant part of Dallas's rotation in her first professional season. She ranks 14th in the league in minutes per game overall and seventh among players since she moved into the starting lineup on May 27, according to The IX Sports. She is averaging 13.1 points, 1.8 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game this season, per Dallas News, while also contributing 2.1 made three-pointers per game on nearly 40% shooting from beyond the arc, 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks, according to The IX Sports. Her 62 three-pointers this season are the most by any rookie in franchise history.
Miller has praised Fudd's two-way impact repeatedly, telling reporters in late July that she is "a terrific three-level offensive player" who also plays elite defense. "I don't know if enough has been written about the type of defensive season that she's put together here early," Miller said, according to The IX Sports. "I've coached some of the best guard defenders this league's had in the recent eras, and to see what she's doing is really, truly elite."
Head coach Jose Fernandez has echoed that sentiment, saying before a July 31 game against Washington that Fudd "was a perfect fit for what we're doing in Dallas" and has been "a pleasure to coach."
Fudd, who played college basketball with Bueckers at UConn, has drawn direct comparisons to the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft, Olivia Miles, who has emerged as a Rookie of the Year favorite and an MVP candidate for the Lynx. Bueckers pushed back on those comparisons in July on the "Bird's Eye View" podcast, saying, "People are going to live in comparison of what a No. 1 pick should be and what the No. 2 pick is doing and what the No. 3 pick is doing, but just running her own race and knowing her story is different and her journey is different. She's perfect for what we needed and what her role is."
Fudd has said her focus down the stretch of the season is on managing her body and improving consistency after a couple of rough shooting nights, including a 2-for-8 outing against Washington on July 31 and a 3-for-11 performance in a more recent Mystics matchup, according to The IX Sports. "Making sure I control the controllables is a big thing for me," Fudd said before Friday's game. "Sleep, what I eat, how I recover, my strength program, my strength training. Obviously, I don't control the minutes I play, but making sure that all the off-the-court stuff I'm maximizing and taking care of."
Minnesota, meanwhile, enters Sunday's game with a league-best 26-7 record after beating the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, a win in which Miles posted 26 points, four rebounds and seven assists and Napheesa Collier added 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, according to Yahoo Sports. The Lynx have their own injury concerns, having ruled out forward Chloe Bibby for personal reasons before she has even made her team debut, and guard Emma Cechova, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn right ACL.
With Fudd sidelined again and Dallas searching for answers after back-to-back losses, the Wings will lean on Bueckers and the rest of their rotation to try to slow down the WNBA's top team on its home floor.
As Fudd put it earlier this week, describing the unforgiving nature of the league's stretch run: "Every game, you're playing against the best women in the world. There's no, OK, I could take a break this game or not. This game's less important. Each game is important. Each game, any team can win. Any team can lose."
