The Indiana Fever will tip off its 2026 season by hosting the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon. The matchup will feature the four most recent No. 1 picks with Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark as a star duo for the Fever, and former UConn teammates Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd reuniting in Dallas.
The Wings only won 10 games last season despite Bueckers’ historic rookie year. Injuries were an issue for Dallas and the constant changes in the lineup hurt the chemistry on the court. Another struggle was the lack of a consistent 3-point shooter. However, this could change with the addition of Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft. She is known as an elite shooter whose jumpshot form has impressed even NBA star Stephen Curry. Bueckers and Fudd won an NCAA championship together in 2025, so the hope is that they can bring their UConn winning ways to Dallas.
Fudd is not the only one making her WNBA debut. The Wings’ new head coach is Jose Fernandez, who spent the last 25 years at the University of South Florida.
Despite multiple injuries, the Fever surpassed expectations last season and reached the WNBA semifinals. Now that the team is healthier, Indiana is considered one of the top contenders for this year’s title. Clark, Sophie Cunningham and Kelsey Mitchell were key players who were injured last season but are ready to get back on the court. However, veteran forward Monique Billings is questionable due to a recent ankle injury.
One of the newest additions for Indiana is former South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson, who tallied a total of 18 points, 14 assists and seven steals over the Fever’s three preseason games.
Here is what else you need to know ahead of the Wings vs. Fever season opener.
Where to watch Dallas Wings vs. Indiana Fever
Date: Saturday, May 9 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse — Indianapolis, Indiana
TV: ABC
Last meeting
The Wings picked up a 95-80 win in their preseason meeting on April 30, which also took place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Despite the loss, Clark looked good in front of her home crowd before an injury scare cut her game short — more on that below. She led all scorers with 21 points in just 16 minutes of play.
Bueckers led the Wings with 20 points, while teammates Maddy Siegrist and Aziaha James added a combined 35 points. Siegrest, who is entering her fourth season in the league, also completed a double-double with 11 rebounds.
The Wings did better in most major categories on the stat sheet, including outrebounding Indiana 45-26 and winning the battle in the paint 50-30. That being stated, the Fever did not have Boston, who spent the majority of the offseason recovering from a lower right leg injury that happened in late February during Unrivaled. She missed Indiana’s first two preseason games and was only on the court for 10 minutes against the Nigeria national team. However, she will be available for the season opener.
Caitlin Clark injury news
Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, only played 13 games last season due to lower body injuries. She played in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in March, but her last WNBA regular-season game was last July.
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She also had another injury scare during the third quarter of the preseason game against the Wings as she took a hard fall and exited the game early. However, Clark stated she was fine and will play this weekend.
“I feel good. I just landed on my kneecap really hard,” Clark stated after the preseason contest.
She has been wearing a sleeve on her left leg but downplayed the fact that she was wearing it by saying it’s “just a little compression on the leg” earlier this week. Fever coach Stephanie White plans to play Clark more off the ball this season as a strategy to lighten her workload while Boston initiates more of the offense as a “point forward.”
Azzi Fudd’s rookie debut
Boston, Clark and Bueckers all won Rookie of the Year after being the top picks of their respective classes and now Fudd is hoping to follow. Although she had a few setbacks in college due to injuries, she wrapped up her time with the Huskies as one of the top five 3-point shooters in program history with a total of 292 while shooting 42.2% from beyond the arc.
The former UConn guard was in the starting lineup during both of Dallas preseason games. She scored just four points against the Fever while going 2 of 7 from the field, but she did better in the 101-84 win against Las Vegas as she scored 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting. Despite being a well-known strength for her, Fudd had some 3-point shooting woes during her senior season with the Huskies. Those struggles showed up again during preseason as she went just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc. That being stated, Fernandez believes the rookie will get over the hump and is encouraging her to be aggressive.
“I had to yell at her and tell her, ‘Don’t pass up open shots,'” Fernandez stated at the beginning of training camp, as stated by the Dallas Hoops Journal. “Especially in some of the actions we’re going to run for her, she better shoot the damn ball if she’s open.
“That’s what she does. She can’t pass up open shots. There are situations where the floor isn’t balanced or rebounding opportunities aren’t there, and we’ll talk about those, but she needs to do what she was brought here to do and space the floor,” Fernandez added.
