Aubrey Plaza seen on crutches after nasty basketball injury during WNBA All-Star weekend

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

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Aubrey Plaza was seen using crutches after suffering a torn ACL at the WNBA 2024 All-Star weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Parks and Recreation star, 40, was sitting courtside at the basketball game on Sunday (July 21), which saw team WNBA defeat Team USA by eight points with a score of 117-109.

During the game, the camera panned to show Plaza sitting beside soccer star Megan Rapinoe and ex-WNBA player Sue Bird, the latter of whom was shown tying Plaza’s shoe.

Sports commentator Ryan Ruocco announced: “I feel for Aubrey Plaza. She came this weekend with a healthy knee. She’s leaving with a torn ACL, thanks to a hardy game of knockout at the Mercury practice facility.”

Knockout is a basketball game that sees players competing to make a basket before the person behind them does.

In snapshots from the weekend posted on Instagram, Plaza can be seen icing her knee, having it checked out by a trainer and using a pair of crutches.

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“@wnba ALL STAR WEEKEND. How it started…how it went… Nothing can stop us!” she wrote. “Thank you @wnba for hosting such an amazing weekend and taking such good care of me and my busted knee. Such a great game. See you in Paris (no).”

The Independent has contacted Plaza’s representative for an update.

In a subsequent post, Plaza shared more photos from the weekend, including one of her giving a fistbump to superstar rookie Caitlin Clark.

This isn’t the first time Plaza has torn her ACL – an injury characterized by a tear or sprain in the knee’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) – while playing basketball.

The White Lotus actor reportedly sprained her ACL during a women’s recreational basketball game in Los Angeles, where she said she disguised herself so she could play on her sister Natalie’s team.

“And then, in the middle of the game, I went up for a shot and tore my ACL on the court in a wig,” Plaza explained on an episode of Bird and Rapinoe’s A Touch More podcast. “That’s kind of like the worst-case scenario because I was trying to go undercover, and I just snapped my knee in half, basically.”

Sunday’s game saw rookies Angel Reese and Clark lead their Team WNBA to victory, while Dallas Wings player Arike Ogunbowale won WNBA All-Star Game MVP.