Nika Mühl tears ACL in first game overseas

Bad news out of Turkey for the former Husky.

Nika Mühl suffered a torn ACL in her first overseas game with Besiktas on Thursday, the club’s CEO revealed on Twitter.

The injury occurred at the 2:06 mark in the third quarter of Besiktas’ SuperCup matchup with Fenerbahce. Mühl landed awkwardly while grabbing a rebound and immediately went down while screaming in pain. She was taken off the court in a stretcher but eventually returned to the bench on crutches.

“I talked to Nika before practice, before she got the news, just talking to her, being there for her,” Paige Bueckers said on Thursday. “I know she’s got a great support system here, and I know the journey ahead of her is not going to be easy, but if [I know] anything about Nika, I know that she’ll crush it and that she’ll just want to destroy the entire rehab and coming back process.”

“For somebody who loves a game as much as she does, to be away from it, obviously it’s sad,” Geno Auriemma added.

Mühl joined Besiktas shortly after the Seattle Storm were eliminated from the playoffs. Like most WNBA players, she signed to play overseas during the offseason as a way to maximize her earning potential since the league’s minimum salary for players with two or fewer years of experience is $64,154.

As a result, Mühl hasn’t gotten a break from basketball over the last year. She finished her senior season at UConn in April then began her WNBA just one month later. Once that concluded, she immediately traveled to Turkey to continue playing. That takes quite a toll on the body.

“It’s a lot of basketball to go from playing a college season, playing the WNBA season, then going right into (overseas),” Auriemma said. “It’s like non-stop, never ending. I can’t even imagine how they do it.”

Mühl will likely be out the entire 2025 WNBA season due to the injury.