UConn guard Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings in the first round of the WNBA basketball draft Monday, April 13, 2026, in New York.
Pamela Smith/AP
There will be a UConn reunion in Dallas this WNBA season.
The Dallas Wings selected guard Azzi Fudd with the first overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft Monday night, a year after choosing her former Huskies teammate Paige Bueckers at No. 1.
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UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35) reacts after making another 3-point basket during the first half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Syracuse, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Storrs, Conn.
Jessica Hill/AP
Fudd, 23, helped UConn to a 38-1 record and a Final Four appearance in her final college season, averaging 17.3 points on 48.1% shooting, 2.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. A 3-point shooting threat, Fudd won a national championship alongside Bueckers in 2025 and earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the Final Four that year. She is the seventh player from the school to be drafted No. 1 overall.
Bueckers and several of Fudd’s UConn teammates attended the draft in New York.
“I’m excited to play again with Paige,” Fudd told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after being drafted. “She’s an incredible person, incredible player, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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Fans at the Wings’ draft party at Happiest Hour in Dallas said they’re eager to see Bueckers and Fudd in the backcourt.
“I’ve been watching Paige and Azzi for two to three years now, so I’m just excited that they’re going to be playing on the same team again,” said fan Kenzie Etzler. “I always knew it was going to be Azzi. I had her picked since Paige got drafted last year.”
Dallas finished 10-34 last season, positioning the franchise for back-to-back No. 1 picks. Consecutive No. 1 picks have helped several organizations turn into contenders, and the Wings, which brought on new coach Jose Fernandez in October, hope to follow a similar trajectory.
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Wings general manager Curt Miller said in November after the team won the 2026 lottery that Dallas would make its pick based on need following the expansion draft and free agency, which was pushed back because the WNBA and its players’ union did not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement until March 18.
“Azzi Fudd is one of the best shooters in our game today,” Miller said Monday in a news release. “She has a lightning-quick release, and her movement off the ball is elite. She competes hard defensively and is an efficient, unselfish player who knows how to win.”
Fudd topped several mock drafts in the months leading up to Monday, but there was no consensus No. 1. Some predicted the Wings would select Spanish center Awa Fam Thiam, who went third overall to the Seattle Storm, and last week, TCU guard Olivia Miles moved into the top spot in ESPN’s mock draft before Fudd reclaimed the top spot Monday. The Minnesota Lynx drafted Miles at No. 2.
“In an outstanding draft class, she stood out to us not only with her basketball skills but with her intangibles,” Miller said in the release. “She is a great teammate and has outstanding basketball IQ.”
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Fudd scored a career-high 34 points with eight 3-point shots in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, then was 12-of-39 shooting for 31 points in UConn’s last three tournament games. In UConn’s loss to South Carolina in the national semifinal, Fudd was 3-of-15 for eight points.
But after the Wings made major moves in free agency over the weekend, Fudd’s odds to go No. 1 surged.
Dallas re-signed All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale and 6-6 center Awak Kuier, the second overall pick in 2021 who has sat out WNBA play since after the 2023 season. The Wings also signed former Minnesota Lynx forward Jessica Shepard (6-4) and reigning co-defensive player of the year Alanna Smith (6-4), also a former Lynx forward, to multi-year deals.
Leading up to Monday’s draft, the Wings had an arsenal of guards, headlined by Bueckers and Ogunbowale, and invested big money on frontcourt players along with returning 6-7 center Li Yueru. Drafting Fudd was the next step in Dallas’ rebuilding efforts.
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The Bueckers-Fudd backcourt proved successful at UConn, and Dallas should benefit from Fudd’s shooting prowess. The Wings shot 30.4% from three in 2025.
Under the WNBA’s new landmark collective bargaining agreement, Fudd is set to make $500,000 in her rookie season. It’s a figure nearly seven times the amount of Bueckers’ salary in 2025, when she won WNBA Rookie of the Year.
“Azzi brings to the Wings the type of character that we want in our locker room,” Miller said in the release. “We are ecstatic to add her to our Wings family.”