Azzi Fudd will undergo an arthroscopic procedure early next week in Connecticut to address ongoing soreness in her right knee, the Dallas Wings announced Wednesday. She will miss the remainder of the 2026 season. Rehabilitation begins immediately.
Fudd last played Aug. 5 at the Washington Mystics. Two nights later, she went through warmups before a home game against the Golden State Valkyries, felt soreness in the knee, and did not play. She has missed five games since.
In November 2023, during her third season at UConn, Fudd tore the ACL and medial meniscus in the same knee and missed the rest of that college season.
What Fudd Produced Before The Knee
Through 30 games and 24 starts, Fudd averaged 13.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 31.7 minutes. The No. 1 pick of the 2026 WNBA Draft shot 45.6% from the field, 39.7% from 3-point range, and 82.6% at the free-throw line, and added 1.73 steals and 0.83 blocks a game.
Her steals per game leads all rookies this season, per the team, with her blocks second and her scoring third. Dallas also lists her scoring average as the third-highest by a Wings rookie in franchise history, and her steals average and 3-pointers made as the most by any first-year player the team has had.
Fudd became the first rookie to win the WNBA 3-Point Contest in July, taking it at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on All-Star Friday. Her 30 in the final round is the second-highest finale score in the event’s history. She made 20-of-26 in that round, including eight of her last 10. No Wings player had won the contest before.
Fudd has played 950 minutes this season. Her on-court net rating of 6.9 leads the Wings, per the team. Dallas is minus-6.2 in the 500 minutes she has been off the floor.
Dallas is 19-11 in the 30 games Fudd has played this season. The Wings are 1-5 in the six she has missed.
Aziaha James Has No Timetable
Aziaha James has not played since the second half of the Aug. 12 win over the Toronto Tempo, when she went down trying to take a charge at College Park Center and left the floor with help from the training staff. Dallas added her to the status report the following day with a lower left leg injury. She did not travel for the two-game road trip to Indianapolis and San Francisco.
Before the Aug. 14 game at the Indiana Fever, Wings coach Jose Fernandez said the team would have an update on James once it got back to Dallas. Neither James nor Fudd took part in Wednesday’s practice in Arlington, and Fernandez said afterward that he had nothing new on either guard.
The 12th overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft out of NC State, James has averaged 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 11.5 minutes across 34 games. Three days before the injury, she scored a season-high 19 points off the bench at the Minnesota Lynx, shooting 7-of-10 with 6 rebounds.
Who’s Left On Dallas’ Perimeter?
Dallas has four healthy guards: Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, Odyssey Sims, and Sug Sutton. Alysha Clark and Maddy Siegrist have taken the wing minutes.
Sims and Sutton combined for 2 points in 17 minutes Monday at Chase Center. Bueckers finished with 21 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists on 8-of-18 shooting and committed 7 turnovers, more than triple her season average of 2.2. Dallas turned it over 18 times against a season average of 11.0, which is the second-fewest in the WNBA.
Dallas signed Christyn Williams to a Developmental Player contract on Aug. 14. That roster spot came open when the Wings temporarily suspended Costanza Verona‘s contract on Aug. 8 so she could report to the Italian national team ahead of the FIBA World Cup in Berlin. Under the collective bargaining agreement finalized in March, each developmental player can be activated for up to 12 games in 2026.
Fernandez coached against Williams during her four seasons at UConn, and he said before Monday’s game that she planned to meet the team in San Francisco.
“And with the timeline of Azzi and James coming back, and when she’s going to come back, Christyn coming in gives us another option of a perimeter player that can get downhill and also shoot it,” Fernandez said.
Williams played 14 games for the Greensboro Groove in the UPSHOT League this year, averaging 9.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. In August 2025, Dallas signed her to a hardship contract, and she played in four games. She also played alongside Fudd for one season at UConn.
Monday’s group was the ninth different starting lineup Dallas has used, and the first time Fernandez has started Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Clark, Jessica Shepard, and Alanna Smith together.
The Toronto win nine days ago was the game James left, and Dallas closed it without her, Fudd, or Shepard.
“But we’re shorthanded today,” Fernandez said. “I was very, very proud with what this group did. With Azzi out, with Shep out, and Aziaha going down for us to close out.”
Azzi Fudd’s rank among rookies:
1st in 3PM
1st in SPG
1st in STL
T-1st in 3PG
T-2nd in BPG
3rd in BLK
4th in PPG
4th in PTSAveraged 13.1 PPG, 2.1 3PG, 1.7 SPG on 39.7% 3PT. pic.twitter.com/OyPC1AONzM
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) August 19, 2026
Dallas Sits Eighth With Eight Games Left
The top eight teams by record qualify for the WNBA playoffs regardless of conference. Dallas is 20-16 and eighth at .556, fourth in the Western Conference behind the Minnesota Lynx, Golden State, and the Las Vegas Aces, all three of which have clinched. The Washington Mystics are 20-14 and a game ahead. Portland is 15-20 and 4.5 back with nine to play.
The Wings carried an 18-9 record into the All-Star break and have gone 2-7 since, beating the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 2 and Toronto on Aug. 12.
Ogunbowale played 37 minutes Monday and finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“We were playing well before the break,” Ogunbowale said. “Sometimes teams come back better or worse, and I think we’re just figuring it out. We’ve had some injuries, but we can’t put the blame on that. We’re figuring it out, and we will figure it out.”
Golden State won all three encounters this season and has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dallas. The Wings edged out Las Vegas 2-1 in the season series but lost all four matchups to Minnesota.
What Is Left On The Schedule
Six of the last eight games will be played at home, beginning Thursday against Indiana at the American Airlines Center. Seattle comes to town on Sunday, Portland on August 25, and Connecticut concludes the pre-break schedule on August 30. The league then takes a break for the World Cup and resumes on September 17, with Dallas hosting Las Vegas. Phoenix visits on September 19, and the Wings conclude the stretch with games at Phoenix on September 21 and at Seattle on September 23.
Six of these eight games are against teams with losing records. Seattle is 7-30, Connecticut 9-25, Phoenix 13-23, and Portland 15-20. Indiana, leading the Eastern Conference, is 24-12. Las Vegas has a 24-13 record.
Dallas is 10-6 at home and has played two games at American Airlines Center this season, beating the Chicago Sky 96-91 on July 12 and losing to Golden State 94-76 on Aug. 7.
Ogunbowale approaches Thursday with 4,999 career points. She has played all eight WNBA seasons in Dallas.
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