WNBA All-Star forward Rhyne Howard will be out for the rest of July after being diagnosed with left knee injury, the Atlanta Dream announced Monday.
Howard, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, sustained the injury during Friday’s 99-82 loss to the Indiana Fever. She will be sidelined for the July 19 All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
Howard, 25, is averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and a league-leading 2.9 3-pointers per game. She was named an All-Star earlier this month and was slated to play for Team Collier.
The Dream are second in the Eastern Conference at 12-9 but have dropped three of their last four games.
Rhyne Howard Receives Notable Distinction from ESPN
The 6-foot-2 Howard had to be helped to the locker room during the first half Friday before returning after halftime to play 14 minutes. She finished with 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting.
Howard did not play in Sunday’s 79-72 loss to the New York Liberty.
Since being drafted first overall out of Kentucky in 2022, Howard has been a steady force. In her first four seasons, she’s won Rookie of the Year and been an All-Star three times.
ESPN recently ranked Howard as the WNBA’s 16th best player, up from 20th at the start of the season.
“New Dream coach Karl Smesko’s offense fits multidimensional scorer Howard well,” ESPN’s Michael Voepel wrote. “She has improved her passing this season, averaging a career high in assists.”
At Kentucky, Howard was a three-time First Team All-American and two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year. As a sophomore in 2019-20, Howard finished second in the country in scoring at 23.4 points per game.
Who Could Replace Rhyne Howard as a WNBA All-Star?
The WNBA has yet to name an All-Star replacement for Howard.
FanSided’s Justin Carter pointed to Washington’s Brittney Sykes and Minnesota’s Kayla McBride as deserving candidates to take Howard’s spot, but it will be commissioner Cathy Engelbert who has final say.
Sykes leads the Mystics in scoring at 17.6 points per game and is one of six players this season to rank top 15 in both points and assists. As Carter noted, the other five are all All-Stars: Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Skylar Diggins, Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum.
Meanwhile, McBride ranks second in the WNBA with 2.6 3-pointers per game while averaging a healthy 14.1 points for the first-place Lynx.
WNBA All-Star Gets Concerning Update on Left Knee Injury