Fever vs. Wings Preseason: Caitlin Clark’s Injury Scare, Paige Bueckers’s Dominance and Azzi Fudd’s Quiet Debut

Caitlin Clark will take on Paige Bueckers and reigning No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd in the Indiana Fever’s preseason game against the Dallas Wings on Thursday night. | Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Caitlin Clark and the Fever faced their second preseason test against Paige Bueckers and the Wings in Thursday night’s WNBA exhibition showdown between former No. 1 picks (and a new one!) that definitely lived up to its billing.

In the Fever’s 95–80 loss, Clark shook off the rust and scored 21 points while sinking 2-of-3 from beyond the arc in front of her home fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Most of her points came from the charity stripe (she was 11-of-13 on free throws) but she was putting together an efficient night before suffering a small injury scare in the third quarter. Wings’ Alanna Smith committed a landing space foul while Clark was going up for a three-pointer; thankfully, the Fever superstar appeared to be O.K. after the play but sat out for the rest of the game.

Clark said postgame that she just landed hard on her kneecap on that play. “I feel good,” she told reporters. Fever coach Stephanie White added that the team probably wouldn’t evaluate Clark’s minor injury moving forward.

As for the Wings, Azzi Fudd made her much-anticipated preseason debut alongside former collegiate teammate Bueckers. Fudd finished with four points and one rebound in 16 minutes, a pretty quiet night for the No. 1 pick out of UConn. It was instead Paige Bueckers who put on a clinic, logging 20 points, two rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes of action, including going 4-of-6 from three.

Looking ahead to the 2026 season, Indiana will need to go back to the drawing board to improve their leaky defense after giving up too many easy buckets to Bueckers and Co., while the Wings should be fairly happy with how their young core is gelling early, despite Fudd’s uninspired first outing.

Catch up on all the exciting action from Thursday night’s game in Sports Illustrated’s live blog below.

Fever vs. Wings: Recapping Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd’s performances in WNBA preseason showdown

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