NEW YORK — Tempting as it was, this could not be a decision made on sentiment, or the allure of a charming storyline. When the Dallas Wings were on the clock, they had to be cold and calculating.
Was it, or was it not the best basketball and business decision to reunite Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd? The No.1 overall pick in a draft is too valuable an asset for an organization to spend frivolously, on anyone’s perception of a package deal or what may be written in the stars.
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“First and foremost, you see them differently,” Wings GM Curt Miller said, after making Fudd the top overall pick in the draft. “You see Paige for who she is, and you see Azzi for who she is, and while they’re terrific teammates, they won a championship together, they have synergy together, it’s about what they both individually bring. … The partnership is wonderful, but this night is about Azzi.”
Concentrate on Azzi, the Wings did. Despite Bueckers’ superlative rookie season, Dallas finished 10-34 and far from the WNBA playoffs in 2025, earning the top overall pick in the draft for the second season in a row. Miller, the former Sun coach, spent a lot of time charting UConn in 2025 to evaluate Bueckers, with Fudd on the court with her.
UConn star Azzi Fudd picked No. 1 in WNBA Draft, reunites with Paige Bueckers on Dallas Wings
They played together in USA Basketball and formed a close relationship, and gravitated together to UConn, Bueckers in 2021, Fudd in ’22. Their dreams of playing together for coach Geno Auriemma were disrupted and delayed, each missing significant time with knee injuries, playing only a handful of games together before Bueckers chose to return for a fifth year.
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And together, they ended the Huskies’ eight-year championship drought, taking it all a year ago, where Fudd was most outstanding player at the Final Four. Once the WNBA’s labor issues were settled, Miller reshaped the roster by acquiring frontcourt talent, signing co-defensive player of the year Alanna Smith and forward Jessica Shepard and trading for Rayah Marshal. So they would not have to address those needs in the draft; they could focus on getting Azzi Fudd to join Bueckers in the backcourt, Maddy Siegrist and Arike Ogunbowale to spread the floor.
New coach Jose Fernandez, hired from South Florida after last season, after years competing against UConn, made it his priority.
“After I got hired (in November), the first trip that I took was to Storrs for three or four days,” Fernandez said. “To sit down, talk to Geno, and really get a full glimpse on Azzi right away. Saw her play against teams in the Big East, saw her play in the NCAA Tournament. We never wavered on what we needed.”
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This March, Miller was right back at Mohegan to watch Fudd play without Bueckers. On Monday night, the moment came, Dallas made the call and the Wings’ draft war room erupted in high fives. Fudd, beaming and gleaming, followed in the footsteps Bueckers took a year ago at Hudson Yards and took her place on stage next to commissioner Cathy Englebert and held up her Wings jersey. Bueckers, in attendance, was beaming, too. But she stayed in the background on Azzi’s night.
“Paige is an incredible player, everybody knows that,” Fudd said. “She’s someone who makes playing basketball easy. I think just the prior experience, knowing how to play with her, play off her, will only help going into this. … Our time at UConn, it was just full of injury, either she was playing and I wasn’t, I was playing and she wasn’t. It wasn’t until last year that we really got a chance to really play together. So I feel there is so much left on the table, so much unknown.”
What is known is that both Bueckers and Fudd were social media and name-image-likeness powerhouses before they came to UConn. They’ve walked together into an historic era for their sport, growth in TV ratings at the college and pro level, culminated with the W’s new collective bargaining agreement. Bueckers’ rookie salary was $78,000. Fudd enters the league one year later at $500,000.
Miller gushed about the financial investment the Wings ownership has made, allowing for global travel to scout talent. Yet all roads led back to Connecticut to pick Azzi Fudd.
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“She’s a true winner, competitor, hard worker, one of the most unselfish superstars at the collegiate level,” Miller said. “On the court, start with her offensive game and her elite shooting ability, her lightning-quick release, her movement when she is off the ball is truly, truly special. Defensively, she competes, she’s intelligent, great basketball IQ. And then the intangibles, which were ultimately the deciding factor for us. She is a unifier in the locker room, a great teammate all the characteristics we’re trying to accumulate in our locker room.”
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UConn players have played an out-sized role in writing the WNBA’s 30-year history. Have any teams ever gone wrong taking Huskies? The Wings have taken UConn players at the top of the draft back-to-back years. Will it result in a championship overnight? Probably not, the way the Liberty are reloading. But history, including the Bueckers-Fudd track record together, suggests something great is coming. This is nothing you’d want to bet against.
Before the Sun disappears over the horizon to join them in Texas, because, in case you haven’t heard, Hartford didn’t bid for an expansion team with a franchise 43 miles away, they will give Connecticut one more look at Paige and Azzi, July 2 at PeoplesBank Arena. And since we’re not signing the checks in Dallas, we can all be as sentimental as we want.
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“They’ve been able to see during my time at UConn that I’m a team-mentality, we-over-me kind of player,” Fudd said. “I’m going to do what the team needs and not anything less. They know what to expect. I know how to play with great players.”
