Former Kentucky basketball star Rhyne Howard injured with Olympics five weeks away

Another member of the 2024 United States three-on-three women’s Olympic basketball team has sustained an injury.

University of Kentucky alumna and two-time WNBA All-Star Rhyne Howard suffered a lower leg injury in the third quarter of the Atlanta Dream’s 68-55 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night. Howard was mid-Eurostep in an attempt to drive past Minnesota guard Courtney Williams when she landed awkwardly and fell to the floor, clutching her left ankle. However, Howard did manage to dish the ball to teammate Haley Jones for the assist before she fell.

Howard, the second all-time leading scorer in UK women’s basketball history, was unable to return to the game after her injury.

Emmanuel Glaze of Optimize the Vizion asked Atlanta’s Haley Jones after the game for her “mindset” when she saw Howard go down.

“I think at first, we were all just kind of worried, so we went over there to check on her,” Jones said. “After, when she left the court, I think we all just kind of had an understanding we had to pick up because Rhyne’s such a big part of the team. So we had to play for her and pick up everything that she does for us.”

Prior to her injury, Howard contributed six points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, as well as five rebounds, one assist and one block in 24 minutes. Howard leads the Dream (6-7) in points (15.4), assists (3.4), steals (2.2) and blocks (0.8) per game this season.

When asked by ESPN’s Michael A. Voepel after the game about Howard’s status, Dream head coach Tanisha Wright said there was no update at that time, but that Howard would undergo a “typical” evaluation Thursday. Howard is listed as day-to-day per ESPN.

Howard’s injury occurred hours after the Los Angeles Sparks confirmed that star rookie forward Cameron Brink tore the ACL in her left knee in Tuesday’s loss to the Connecticut Sun, rendering her unable to compete as planned for the USA three-on-three team in Paris.

Brink and Howard were named to the three-on-three roster at the start of June, alongside former Tennessee star and current overseas player Cierra Burdick and former Louisville and LSU point guard Hailey Van Lith, who will spend her final season of eligibility with Texas Christian in 2024-25.

The Summer Games take place July 26-Aug. 11. The three-on-three schedule starts with pool-play games July 30 and ends with the gold medal game on Aug. 5.

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