Fudd rejoins her girlfriend and former UConn teammate in Dallas after being drafted No. 1 earlier this month


Getty Images

During the Dallas Wings' media day on Monday, star guard Paige Bueckers addressed her relationship with former UConn teammate Azzi Fudd, who was drafted by Dallas as the No. 1 overall pick earlier this month.

"Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi's personal relationship is nobody's business but our own, and what we choose to share is completely up to us," Bueckers said. "But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do and you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it, so that's what I will be addressing today. Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professionals, we've always conducted ourselves as such and we've never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court, and that's what we'll continue to do.

"...Me and Azzi are not new to this. We've been doing this for a long time. We have countless reps at it. We have a lot of experience with it, so we will continue to use that experience to show up and be professionals, great teammates, great leaders, the hardest workers and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games. To add on to that, Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player, her resilience, her strength and her career-best year at UConn. Azzi is a great individual person, her own great individual person and she should be celebrated as such."

The former Huskies had been rumored to be dating for a while, until Bueckers finally confirmed it on a WAG Talk TikTok last year. Around the same time, Fudd posted a mirror selfie that showed her "Paige Bueckers" phone case. The pair have not shared any more publicly since then.

While they are not the first couple to play on the same WNBA team, their relationship has drawn outsized interest leading up to the draft earlier this month. During a press conference earlier this month, a team representative shot down a reporter's question to Fudd about their relationship.

The pair met in 2017 at a USA Basketball U16 national team camp and quickly became close friends. When Bueckers, who is a year older, committed to UConn in 2019, she also started recruiting Fudd. In 2021, Fudd said her efforts were more than just starting the "#GetAzziToUConn" hashtag on social media. Bueckers went as far as showing Fudd and her family a highlight video of her best passes and told them that Fudd could be on the receiving end of those dimes if she joined her at UConn.

Fudd announced her commitment in November 2020 and officially joined Bueckers in Storrs the following season. They didn't get to play together as much as expected due to injuries, but they did win a national championship together in 2025 as Bueckers' wrapped up her college basketball career. This past season, Fudd didn't get another ring, but she was a key part of the Huskies' Final Four run.

Bueckers and Fudd will be experiencing their first WBNA preseason game together on Thursday as they take on Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. That will be the same matchup as their first official game as WNBA teammates, which is set for May 9 in Indianapolis.

Source