Azzi Fudd, No. 1 Pick in 2026 WNBA Draft, to Miss Rest of Season Due to Knee Surgery

Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the top overall pick from the 2026 WNBA Draft, will see her rookie season cut short as the team announced on Wednesday that she will have season-ending right knee surgery.

She last played on Aug. 5 and has missed all five of the team’s games since then with what was labeled as soreness.

“Fudd will have the procedure done in Connecticut early next week and will begin rehabbing immediately,” Dallas said in a statement.

“With less than five weeks remaining in the regular season following the procedure, Fudd will miss the remainder of the 2026 season.

“The Wings will provide additional updates following the procedure when appropriate.”

This isn’t the first time that Fudd has had issues with this same knee.

While in high school in 2019, she tore both her ACL and MCL in her right knee.

She resumed playing 10 months later and recovered enough to be anointed the No. 1 overall prospect in her high school class.

Fudd then joined the UConn Huskies but suffered another knee injury in 2023, tearing her right ACL again, in addition to tearing her meniscus.

Fudd was able to persevere through the rehab process for a second time—and after a redshirt season—to lead UConn to a national championship in 2025.

She was also named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and following an All-American season in 2025–2026, she was selected first by the Wings in this year’s draft.

Before missing the past five games, Fudd had missed only one other match during her rookie year.

However, that was also due to a right knee injury, and that missed contest came in the Wings’ second game of the year.

Her minutes were managed through the early portion of the season as she came off the bench in each of her first six games, averaging 23.8 minutes and 11 points.

But since then, she has started her past 24 games, with averages of 33.6 minutes and 13.6 points.

Even while dealing with a knee ailment all year, Fudd has been as good as advertised.

For the season, she’ll finish with averages of 13.1 points, 1.8 assists, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals.

That steals average ranks fifth in the WNBA, and first among rookies, while she also knocked down 39.7 percent of her shots from downtown.

The three-point shot is Fudd’s best asset as a pro, and that was on full display at WNBA All-Star Weekend.

She participated in the Three-Point Contest and bested the six-woman field, which consisted of veterans.

Fudd had a final score of 30 to win the contest and became the first rookie to ever prevail at the WNBA Three-Point Contest.

Another high point for the first-year player came in a 91–76 victory over the New York Liberty on May 24.

Fudd filled up the box score with 24 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks, with 17 of those points coming in the third quarter.

That total was the second-most points scored by a rookie in a single quarter in WNBA history.

Without Fudd, the Dallas Wings are clearly not the same team, as they are 19–11 when she plays, compared to 1–5 when she doesn’t.

The team has lost seven of its past nine games overall, stumbling to eighth place in the 2026 WNBA standings.

The top eight teams, regardless of conference, make the WNBA playoffs, as Dallas has a 4.5-game lead over the Portland Fire for that final postseason spot.

Overall, the Wings are 20–16 on the season, which is a remarkable turnaround over recent years for the franchise.

Dallas went 9–31 in the 2024 season—leading to the franchise getting the 2025 top overall pick and drafting Fudd’s UConn teammate, Paige Bueckers.

The Wings then went 10–34 during the 2025 season, so Dallas already has one more win this season than it had over the last two seasons combined.

The Wings need three more wins to set a new team record with 23 wins, which would also guarantee them a winning record.

In the team’s favor is that of its final eight games, six of them are at home—each of the next six—before back-to-back road games to close out the year.

While Fudd’s first season has come to an end, other WNBA news from Wednesday revealed that an all-time great’s career is coming to a close.

Nneka Ogwumike, an 11-time WNBA All-Star and the 2016 MVP, announced she will retire at season’s end after 15 years in the W.

Ogwumike, who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks, was the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft 14 years prior to Fudd, being taken first overall back in 2012.