3 Dallas Wings Players Who Must Step Up After Azzi Fudd Injury News

Azzi Fudd missed the Dallas Wings’ last five games with knee soreness. The Wings struggled without her, losing four of the five games and falling in the standings. Until yesterday, there was still hope that Fudd would return to help the Wings close out the season and battle in a first-round series against a top-seeded team.

Then, the Wings announced that Fudd would undergo a procedure on her knee and would have to miss the remainder of the season. Losing its best volume 3-point shooter and perimeter defender is a tough blow for a Wings team trying to hold on to a playoff spot and ideally even climb out of eighth place to avoid the Minnesota Lynx in the first round.

The Wings still have a 4.5-game lead over the Portland Fire and Portland’s remaining schedule is tough with five games against the Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, and Golden State Valkyries. Still, the Wings cannot afford much slippage, especially if they want to avoid a nightmare first-round series with the Lynx.

While rallying from such a tough injury blow will have to be a team effort, a few players will have to step up especially to fill the void left by Fudd’s injury.

Odyssey Sims

Jose Fernandez started Odyssey Sims over Azzi Fudd early in the season. She also got the nod in three of the five games Fudd missed and played over 20 minutes in four games—with mixed results. She went 0-4 on her way to three points in a loss to the Golden State Valkyries, then she shot over 50% from the field and scored 17 points in a loss to Minnesota before contributing just 9 points on 3-10 shooting in a win over the Toronto Tempo. Her minutes declined in the last two games, and she played just 12 minutes in yet another loss to the Valkyries, putting up 1 rebound and 2 assists.

Sims stepped up big last season when the Indiana Fever were down several players and signed her to a hardship contract. Without her, they would not have pushed the Las Vegas Aces to the brink in the semifinals. Now, with Fudd out and Aziaha James still without a timetable for return, she needs to step up again on both ends of the floor.

Arike Ogunbowale

Arike Ogunbowale was the face of the organization until Paige Bueckers arrived in 2025. She deserves a lot of credit for taking a step back and embracing a new role next to Bueckers. While she may not be the team’s focal points anymore, the Wings need her to deliver consistently as a scorer and 3-point shooter—now more than even before.

Ogunbowale scored at least 17 points in three consecutive games, but she also scored just five in the two losses before that and did not get to her points efficiently. She only shot over 40% from the field twice—including a very quiet 2-4 outing in the loss to Minnesota—and went just 3-25 from deep in the five games Fudd missed. With Fudd sidelined, the Wings are missing 13 points and two made 3-pointers per game. That would hurt a lot less, if Ogunbowale could find her rhythm from deep and shoot closer to her 34.3% career average. The Wings also cannot afford more single-digit scoring games from her to close out the season.

Alysha Clark

With Fudd and James out, the Wings are very low on good perimeter defenders. That puts a lot of pressure on Alysha Clark, who has made her living as a 3-and-D player in the WNBA for years. However, she is also 39 years old—the oldest player in the league this year—and played limited minutes for most of the season. She is also fresh off a back injury that kept her out for a few games

The 78-70 loss to the Valkyries marked her first start of the season and just the second time this year that she played over 20 minutes. The first was a 98-87 loss to the Fever. On top of that, she was tasked with defending Gabby Williams. Whether she continues to start or not, the Wings will need Clark to provide a steady veteran presence, some tough defense on the wing, and 3-point shooting in extended minutes with Fudd sidelined for this crucial stretch of the season.

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