When Kaiya Wynn’s season ended before it even got the chance to begin last season, everything that Wynn thought she knew and understood about the game was about to be flipped upside down.
During a practice just a week and a half before the start of Kim Caldwell’s first year with the team, the then-redshirt junior was downed with a season-ending injury when she tore the Achilles tendon in her right leg.
“My biggest thing was losing my limp,” Wynn said. “I limped for a long time after surgery and coming back. So just trying to reteach myself how to walk and walk the right way was probably one of the biggest challenges.”
The timeline of the injury lasted from October 2024, Wynn worked back for 12 months before returning officially to the court for practice in October of 2025. She played her first action during an exhibition match against Columbus State.
Achilles injuries have become much more common in basketball over time. Just last season, the NBA saw a handful of stars go down with Achilles injuries in the playoffs alone, with Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in the NBA Finals.
Before the injury, Wynn was one of only five players to appear in every single one of the 33 games played, averaging 4.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists on the season.
While all her time has come off the bench in her three playing seasons with the team, she has still served as critical depth in a league that so desperately relies on the next man up mentality.
Beyond the numbers, she was brought in as a defensive specialist, prioritizing her play beyond the perimeter. Yet with just one wrong move, one bad fall, Wynn’s basketball career entered a new territory.
“You learn how important your mindset is, you know,” Wynn said. “You can’t really shift what happens to you, but you can shift your response to it. So just coming in every day and trying to be positive and be a good teammate.”
An upperclassman like Wynn has the chops to be a good leader in the locker room, but an injury that sidelined her for a year completely altered her process and how she approached her day-to-day work with the Lady Vols.
Despite the irregularities, Wynn found comfort within the team, which can remain a testament to the culture Caldwell has created in such a short amount of time while with the team.
“My teammates, the staff and my family were just awesome,” Wynn said. “Just uplifting me every day, and kind of getting on me when I was slacking, or didn’t wanna do PT or something that day, so just encouraging me that there is sunshine at the end of the rain.”
Caldwell sees the importance of having Wynn on the court, and over anyone, has been as excited as they get for her official return to the rotation.
“It’s a hard injury to recover from,” Caldwell said. “So she’s been slowly getting back into it. She’s a really good leader for us. She knows her role, she plays it well, she’s a good defender, she runs, she’s still trying to fit into that ‘getting back’ role.”
It’s expected that there will be growing pains. It’s without debate one of the hardest injuries to recover from. Despite the challenges, Wynn displays perseverance on the highest levels.
“She’s a big player for us regarding what she brings to the table,” Caldwell said. “She knows what it takes, she knows what it’s like to be a Lady Vol, she knows what that means, and she’s doing a really good job of communicating that to our new players.”
And that time away from the court is something that goes unnoticed by the fans. That makes the first time back much more difficult.
“You spend so much time not playing, so when it comes time to, you’re bricking lay-ups and your timing is off,” Wynn said. “You’re trying to run and catch a pass, and you forget how hard it is to do things like that and just find the rhythm of the game.”
In Wynn’s return to the court on Oct. 29 against Columbus State in an exhibition, she finished with nine minutes, along with five points, five boards and a steal.
