{"id":611704,"date":"2026-04-18T04:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:53:07","slug":"paige-bueckers-appeared-to-skip-azzi-fudds-wings-press-conference-for-a-sweet-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611704\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige Bueckers Appeared to Skip Azzi Fudd\u2019s Wings Press Conference for a Sweet Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">When WNBA twitter went into a frenzy over No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd\u2019s introductory press conference with the Dallas Wings earlier this week, Paige Bueckers was notably absent from the hullabaloo. Why was that? According to Bueckers\u2019s Instagram, she appeared to be in Croatia supporting another former UConn teammate, Nika M\u00fchl, ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">Bueckers and M\u00fchl were at UConn for four years together before M\u00fchl got drafted by the Seattle Storm in 2024. Bueckers went pro a year later as the No. 1 pick by the Wings in 2025, but unfortunately, the two never got to play against each other since M\u00fchl tore her left ACL before Bueckers\u2019s rookie season. In 2026, another cruel twist of fate saw M\u00fchl tear her right ACL while playing for Croatia in a EuroBasket qualifier this past offseason, and she\u2019s now set to miss her second consecutive WNBA campaign. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">M\u00fchl, who has only played 16 games for the Storm in her pro career thus far, was picked by the Portland Fire in the expansion draft earlier this month, and she\u2019ll hopefully be able to recover and stay healthy for the majority of her time there. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">As the former Huskies guard continues to rehab her knee injury, Bueckers apparently took a flight to Croatia to help cheer her up. The reigning Rookie of the Year shared a sweet photo dump on Instagram of the two of them hanging out overseas and captioned the post: \u201cA trip needed for the soul&#8230; can confirm they have sharks in the Croatian Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nika flying from croatia to support paige at her draft. Paige flying to croatia to cheer nika up from her injury before the W season starts. oh to have a friendship like paige bueckers and nika m\u00fchl. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0CC3P37GAE\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/0CC3P37GAE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ari (@5ari___) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/5ari___\/status\/2045229724901765598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">When Bueckers returns to Dallas to prepare for the 2026 season, she\u2019ll likely face a slew of questions about reuniting with another ex-UConn teammate, Azzi Fudd, who was recently taken first overall by the Wings.<\/p>\n<p>Why the Dallas Wings are the talk of the WNBA right now<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">Immediately after Wings selected Fudd with the No. 1 pick in this year\u2019s draft, ESPN\u2019s cameras panned to Bueckers (who was in attendance at Hudson Yards). Last year, Bueckers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/paige-bueckers-appears-confirm-azzi-fudd-dating-rumors-orange-carpet-all-star-game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">confirmed that she was dating Fudd<\/a> in a now-viral interview at the 2025 WNBA draft, but the status of their relationship is currently unknown.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">A Wings reporter tried to find that out during Fudd\u2019s introductory press conference with the team on Thursday:<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">\u201cPaige announced last year on TikTok that y\u2019all were a couple, and I\u2019m wondering if that\u2019s still the case, and if so, if y\u2019all have talked to any other couples in the league about how they negotiate that dynamic as pro teammates?\u201d the Dallas Morning News\u2019 Kevin Sherrington asked.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">The Wings PR team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/why-wings-shot-down-reporters-question-azzi-fudd-relationship-paige-bueckers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sharply cut in to shut down the question<\/a>, leading to an online firestorm of fans and pundits weighing in on what the right move was there. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">For Fudd\u2019s part, she has had nothing but complimentary things to say about her former Huskies teammate. \u201cIt\u2019s so special,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/paigebeuckers\/status\/2045024052310413751\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fudd said of getting to play with Bueckers again<\/a> in an interview released Thursday night. \u201cHere I am, no control where I get drafted, and I get to play with my best friend again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"87\">Bueckers echoed a similar sentiment when asked about the possibility of reuniting with Fudd in Dallas: \u201cThat would be exciting,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctinsider.com\/sports\/uconn-womens-basketball\/article\/azzi-fudd-wnba-draft-dallas-seattle-minnesota-dc-22196019.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bueckers\u00a0said before the draft<\/a>. \u201cI don&#8217;t know all what I can say or what the future holds, but obviously we&#8217;ve had a lot of games together under our belt and we won a national championship together, so I think there&#8217;s great success in that. But I guess time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">Bueckers and Fudd have both battled through their respective knee injuries to make it to the pros, with Bueckers coming off an impressive debut season averaging 19.2 points and 5.4 assists en route to winning Rookie of the Year and earning her first All-Star nod. Following four up-and-down years at UConn, the pair\u2019s chemistry on the court will be tested\u2014and inevitably, questioned again\u2014in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>More WNBA from Sports Illustrated<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When WNBA twitter went into a frenzy over No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd\u2019s introductory press conference with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-611704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}