Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers speaks to reporters during the team’s WNBA basketball media day Monday, April 27, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Paige Bueckers addressed it directly.
And she won’t be talking about it again.
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“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” said Bueckers.
The former UConn women’s basketball and current Dallas Wings superstar opened her Media Day press conference Monday afternoon by addressing her relationship with fellow former Husky and Dallas star Azzi Fudd. Before anyone could ask a question, Bueckers said she would only talk about her and Fudd’s personal lives just this one time and would not address it again.
“If we continue to get asked about it, we will refer to this moment in time, or we will use this time to deflect and talk about our teammates,” said Bueckers.
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During her introductory press conference in Dallas last week, Fudd was asked to confirm the relationship status and asked if she and Bueckers had gone to other couples in the WNBA for advice on playing on the same team as their partners. Fudd did not answer, and instead a Dallas spokesperson said that the team would not be addressing any topics about players’ personal lives.
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Bueckers reiterated Monday that Fudd was drafted No. 1 overall by Dallas because of her individual basketball talent and not because of her relationship with Bueckers. Bueckers also affirmed that her and Fudd’s off-court personal lives will not, and have not, ever impacted their on-court performances.
“Me and Azzi have always been the most professional,” said Bueckers. “We’ve always conducted ourselves as such. We’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry on to the court. That’s what we continue to do. And I’m not entirely sure if this is new to media members, to social media, to new people who are watching the WNBA or women’s basketball in general, but 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.”
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In Bueckers’ opening statement on Monday, she said she understood why the media felt the need to ask Fudd about her relationship with Bueckers, but again confirmed their personal lives are just that – personal. Fudd conducted her Media Day press conference earlier in the day and was not asked, nor did she speak on her relationship with Bueckers.
“What we choose to share is completely up to us,” said Bueckers.
Fudd’s introductory press conference last week went viral because of team’s choice to intercede.
Last week’s press conference was the first time Fudd had ever publicly been asked about her relationship with Bueckers, as the former Husky has never once confirmed their relationship – either online or in an interview. Bueckers, however, confirmed their relationship last summer during an on-carpet interview with WAG Talk at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis. Since then, neither star has been public about their relationship.
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Bueckers and Fudd became best friends in high school while playing for Team USA. Despite Fudd living on the East Coast in Arlington, Virginia, and Bueckers in Hopkins, Minnesota, they remained close. Bueckers, a year older than Fudd, committed to UConn in 2019 and helped convince Fudd to join her in Storrs a year later.
The two shared four years together in Storrs, but only played together for about a year and a half in total due to injuries.
In 2025, the duo helped lead UConn to its first national championship in nine years as Fudd was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player and Bueckers went No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft to Dallas.
Bueckers had a historic debut season in the WNBA last summer, winning Rookie of the Year and earning an All-Star nod. Back in college, Fudd had her best year yet for UConn in 2025-26 and earned her first career All-American honors.
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Dallas selected Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft because not only was she the best shooting guard in the class, but the Wings also needed a boost on the perimeter and another consistent scorer after bolstering its frontcourt depth in free agency.
“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,” said Bueckers on Monday. “So Azzi is her own great individual person, and she should be celebrated as such.”
Bueckers and Fudd will make their preseason WNBA debut as teammates Thursday night when the Wings play at the Indiana Fever. Dallas opens the regular season on Saturday, May 9, also at Indiana.
While Bueckers’ addition to the roster last summer helped spark new enthusiasm around the Wings, the team still finished last in league standings and missed the playoffs. Wings’ general manager Curt Miller said he believes Fudd will elevate the team’s on-court talent and make the Wings a contender thanks to her and Bueckers’ experience playing together at UConn.
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“You look around the success of UConn players in our league, what we say all the time is they know how to play the right way,” said Miller during Monday’s media day. “Culture, the non-negotiables in our locker room that you don’t teach, you don’t coach effort; Jose doesn’t have to worry about that with those players and the pedigree that they come from playing for Coach Geno (Auriemma).”
Both Miller and Dallas head coach Jose Fernandez said they plan on moving Bueckers more off-ball this season and shifting her out of the point guard role since the team signed veteran point guards Lindsay Allen and Odyssey Sims in free agency.
“(In free agency,) we discussed how talented Paige is with the ball in her hands, but also how elite she is when she’s off the ball,” said Miller. “And one way opponents try to wear her down is, you know, to guard her really hard when she has the ball. So, adding a veteran point guard into our locker room was really, really important.”
The Wings opened training camp on Sunday, April 19. Fudd, who was drafted by Dallas on April 13 in New York, said the first week of camp was intense, but also fun.
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“I think it’s going to be a lot of learning, a lot of growing, and I really look forward to that,” she said. “… learning the plays, learning my teammates, learning who I’m playing with. They’re constantly changing the rotations of teams and the lineups, so (I’m) having to learn personnel on the fly. But then also, I think I’m good at decision making, but everything is at such a high speed and high pace that you have to be ready at all times.”
Fudd said she’s looking forward to facing fellow former Huskies in the WNBA once the regular season gets going. She also looks to spend her free time now that she’s done with academics by exploring Texas and potentially uncovering some musical talents.
“Sarah Strong had a keyboard in her apartment, and so I started learning that last year, and I think I want to get a keyboard from my apartment to keep learning,” she said. “I want to be outside. I want to do puzzles. Now, having time, I’m excited to see what kind of hobbies I pick up.”
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