UConn star Azzi Fudd picked No. 1 in WNBA draft, reunites with Paige Bueckers on Wings

Emily Adams, Hartford Courant on Apr 13, 2026

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NEW YORK — Azzi Fudd made history on Monday night when she was selected by the Dallas Wings with the No. 1 overall pick in 2026 WNBA draft.

Decked out in a custom gold sequined gown designed by Coach at The Shed in Manhattan, Fudd became the second straight UConn women’s basketball player drafted first into the WNBA after Paige Bueckers went No. 1 to the Wings in 2025. The former Huskies superstars, who led UConn to the 2025 NCAA Championship, will reunite in Dallas as the first college teammates ever drafted to the same WNBA franchise as No. 1 picks.

Bueckers and Fudd are just the second pair of college teammates selected first overall in consecutive drafts, joining UConn greats Tina Charles and Maya Moore in 2010 and ‘11 respectively.

Fudd is the seventh No. 1 overall pick in UConn history, joining a legendary lineup that includes Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Charles, Moore, Breanna Stewart (2016) and Bueckers. That group holds a combined 14 WNBA championships, five WNBA MVP awards and 46 All-Star nods.

As the first No. 1 pick under the league’s groundbreaking new collective bargaining agreement approved in late March, Fudd will be the highest-paid rookie in WNBA history. Her base salary this season will be $500,000, more than five times Bueckers’ 2025 rookie salary of $78,831.

Fudd’s selection also made her just the second second-generation WNBA draftee in the league’s 30-year history. Fudd’s mother, Katie Smrcka-Duffy Fudd, never appeared in a WNBA game but was drafted No. 62 overall by the Sacramento Monarchs in 2001. The only previous mother-daughter duo drafted into the league was Pamela McGee, the No, 2 pick in the league’s inaugural 1997 draft, and her daughter Imani McGee-Stafford, who went No. 10 to the Chicago Sky in 2016.

In her redshirt senior season at UConn, Fudd had the best and healthiest year of her career. She averaged 17.3 points, 3.1 assists and 2.5 steals per game, all of which were career highs, while shooting 48.1% from the field, 44.7% on 3-pointers and 95.5% at the free throw line. She finished the season leading the country in made 3-pointers with 117 and ranked fifth nationally 3-point percentage. Fudd was a consensus first team All-American, helping lead the Huskies to a Final Four appearance and a 38-1 record.

In Dallas, Fudd joins a roster that underwent a dramatic revamp during the offseason. After going 10-34 in 2025, the Wings fired first-year coach Chris Koclanes and brought in former South Florida coach Jose Fernandez, a longtime friend of Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, to lead the franchise. Dallas was active during free agency, signing 2025 Co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith to a two-year max contract and adding veteran forward Jessica Shepard from the Minnesota Lynx. The team also returns four-time All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale and 6-foot-5 Finnish forward Awak Kuier, who was drafted with the No. 2 pick in 2021 but has not appeared in the WNBA since 2023.

Fudd and Bueckers have known each other since 2017 and have a long history of success as teammates. They had a 44-5 record at UConn when both were on the court and led the program to its first national championship in nine years in 2025. They played together as high schoolers on the USA Basketball junior national team, bringing home gold medals from the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup and 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Bueckers confirmed the pair are also in a romantic relationship in an interview during WNBA All-Star weekend last July.

Fudd’s professional career officially begins when training camp opens April 19. Dallas plays its first preseason game against the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis on April 30, and the team returns to Indianapolis for its regular-season opener against the Fever on May 9. Fudd will make her Connecticut homecoming on July 2, when the Connecticut Sun host the Wings at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.

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