Rhyne Howard, a two-time WNBA All-Star and University of Kentucky alum, is an important player on the 2024 United States women’s Olympic basketball team for the three-on-three competition
On Wednesday (June 19) night, the Atlanta Dream lost to the Minnesota Lynx 68-55 in a WNBA game. Howard also suffered a lower leg injury. When Howard performed a mid-Eurostep to get past Minnesota guard Courtney Williams in the third quarter, she landed awkwardly, slid on the ground, and clutched her left ankle. Howard went down, but not before passing the ball to teammate Haley Jones for an assist.
Due to an injury, Howard—the second-highest scorer in the history of UK women’s basketball—was unable to return to the game. Emmanuel Glaze of Optimize the Vizion asked Atlanta’s Haley Jones about her thoughts after seeing Howard fall after the game.
“As Rhyne exited the court, we all kind of had an agreement that we had to pick up because she’s such an important member of the team. At first, I think we were all just a little anxious, so we walked over there to check on her. As a result, we had to play for her and emulate all she did for us.” Jones was quoted as saying by ca.sports.
Howard’s injury puts dream on hold; assessment awaits
In 24 minutes before her injury, Howard finished with six points on 1-of-9 shooting, four free-throw attempts, five rebounds, one assist, and one block. Howard, who has led the Dream this season with averages of 15.4 points, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, is still in question.
Howard will get a “typical” evaluation, head coach Tanisha Wright informed ESPN’s Michael A. Voepel, but there was no update. She is labeled as day-to-day as of right now.
The difficulties facing the team were exacerbated when Howard got hurt a few hours after the Los Angeles Sparks revealed that star rookie forward Cameron Brink had torn the ACL in her left knee during Tuesday’s loss to the Connecticut Sun. This injury will keep Brink from playing for the USA three-on-three team in Paris.