Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are reunited once again.
On Monday, Fudd, who played with Bueckers at UConn, was selected number one by the Dallas Wings at the WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City.
Last season, Fudd led UConn to a perfect regular season record. For four seasons, Fudd played with Bueckers at UConn, and the two went public with their relationship in 2025.
Fudd, 23, is grateful to be the number one pick.
“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in,” Fudd said. “I don’t really have words. It’s nothing I could have imagined. The feeling sitting there with my family, with Morgan [Valley], hearing your name called, being able to walk up there, it’s such a surreal feeling. I’m so grateful.”
The All-American guard, who won a national championship with Bueckers in 2025 at UConn, says playing with Bueckers makes the game easier.
“Paige is an incredible player,” Fudd said. “Everybody knows that. She’s somebody that makes playing basketball look easy. So I think just the prior experience, knowing how to play with her, play off of her, will only help going into this.”
During their time at UConn, due to injuries, Bueckers and Fudd played 49 games together.
According to Fudd, playing in Dallas is an opportunity for the two to get an extended run together.
“I was going to say our time at UConn felt like, I mean, it was just full of injury,” Fudd said. “Full of, like, either I was playing, she wasn’t. She was playing, I wasn’t. It wasn’t until last year that we really got a chance to actually play together. And even then, it wasn’t a full season. So I feel like there’s still so much left on the table. And so much unknown, just so much potential, not with just her, but the entire Dallas Wings roster. I can’t wait, obviously, to play with her again, but to play with every single one of them.”
It should be interesting to see how this partnership works out in Dallas, but one thing’s for sure: it will be fun to watch.
