Will Azzi Fudd Join Paige Bueckers In Dallas At The 2026 WNBA Draft?

After arriving with much fanfare at the 2025 WNBA Draft, Paige Bueckers had to endure more losing than she’d grown accustomed to in her first season with the Dallas Wings. Now, a major development offers hope that Bueckers will get back to her winning ways in the pro ranks.

This past Sunday, the Wings won the WNBA Draft Lottery, which earns them the right to make the first overall selection in the 2026 WNBA Draft. There are a handful of names to choose from, but with their second consecutive No. 1 pick, Dallas can reunite Bueckers with her dynamic backcourt teammate from her UConn days: Azzi Fudd.

The number one recruit of the 2021 class, Fudd chose the Huskies over other top-tier programs like Notre Dame and UCLA. At UConn, the proud child of Arlington County, Virginia, formed a fearsome duo with Bueckers, whom she’d met at a summer tryout for Team USA. The tight-knit friendship between the two young women would translate smoothly on the court, with the combo guard Bueckers happy to swing the ball to the sweet-shooting Fudd.

In their first season together at Storrs, Bueckers and Fudd helped UConn get to the 2022 national title game, where they came up short against an Aliyah-Boston–led South Carolina squad. Bueckers would sit out the 2022–23 season due to an ACL injury, and in her absence, Fudd improved her numbers and put up the best scoring average of her college career (15.1 ppg on 45.6% shooting from the field).

2025 was particularly eventful for the duo, as they finally won their first NCAA championship together in Bueckers’ swansong with UConn. Bueckers went on to become the No. 1 pick at the 2025 WNBA Draft, and later in the summer, the two finally responded to longstanding rumors by confirming that they were in a relationship.

While Bueckers and Fudd have been going strong, the same cannot be said for the Wings, who were tied with the Chicago Sky for the league-worst record (10–34). Though Bueckers’ rookie season was emotionally draining to say the least, fortune appears to be on her team’s side once again as they won the nationally televised Draft Lottery this past weekend.

The Wings are spoiled for choice, as potential top draft picks include UCLA center Lauren Betts, Spanish standout Awa Fam, and TCU court general Olivia Miles. Out of all the interesting prospects, will Dallas go for a tried-and-tested duo by pairing Bueckers with Fudd?

The 2026 WNBA Draft can’t come soon enough.