The Dallas Wings’ second straight No. 1 overall draft pick is in. With the first pick of Monday’s 2026 WNBA Draft, the Wings selected UConn shooting guard Azzi Fudd, who will be reunited in Dallas with her former college teammate and last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Paige Bueckers.
Fudd averaged 17.6 points per game in her senior season at Connecticut, which was actually second on the team that lost to the UCLA Bruins in the 2026 National Championship game. She shot 44.7% from 3-point range during her senior year and 43.6% as a junior.
Fudd was the odds-on favorite to be the first pick in the draft, but was not the crystal clear consensus choice, as Bueckers was a year ago. The Bueckers-Fudd backcourt brought a national championship to UConn in 2025, and they will hope to hang WNBA Championship banners together in Dallas.
“Azzi Fudd is one of the best shooters in our game today,” Dallas Wing Executive Vice President and General Manager Curt Miller said in a team statement. “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. In an outstanding draft class, she stood out to us not only with her basketball skills but with her intangibles. She is a great teammate and has outstanding basketball IQ. Azzi brings to the Wings the type of character that we want in our locker room. We are ecstatic to add her to our Wings family.”
The Wings made several roster moves before Monday’s draft that hinted at Fudd being their pick. They brought back Awak Kuier (6’6”), who starred in Turkey for the last two seasons. They signed the WNBA’s reigning Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Alanna Smith (6’4”), from the Minnesota Lynx. They brought in forward Jessica Shepard (6’4”) and forward/center Rayah Marshall (6’4”) as well.
Reading between the lines, some were guessing that meant the team had ruled out Spanish prodigy Awa Fam Thiam and UCLA’s Lauren Betts. That left Fudd and TCU’s Olivia Miles, a pure point guard, as the remaining choices. With Bueckers bringing the ball up and two more exciting guards already on the roster from last year’s draft class (JJ Quinerly, Aziaha James), the sharpshooting Fudd perhaps looked a little more like the obvious selection.
College Basketball: NCAA Final Four: UConn Azzi Fudd (35) in action, dribbles vs South Carolina at Mortgage Matchup Center. Phoenix, AZ 4/3/2026 CREDIT: Jordan Murph (Photo by Jordan Murph/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X164875 TK1)
And after a post-draft press conference with team general manager Curt Miller and new head coach Jose Fernandez, we no longer have to read between the lines. Miller said that Fudd was the preferred selection all along, and those moves to get more bigs to Dallas in free agency reinforced that preference.
“[Fudd] brings what this team needed in terms of her spacing, her quick release, her 3-point shooting,” Fernandez said. “She’s coming from a program that’s great in the locker room, and they know how to win — and that’s what we want here in Dallas.”
TCU’s Miles was selected by the Lynx second overall on Monday. The Seattle Storm selected Fam Thiam third overall.
The Wings were 12th out of 13 teams last year in team 3-point shooting (30.4%). Fudd will immediately become the team’s best 3-point shooter and plug that leak for Dallas. She is also a plus defender on the perimeter. Fudd showed a lot of growth in the pick-and-roll game during her senior year under Geno Auriemma. With all the free-agent activity in the frontcourt and Fudd joining Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale in the backcourt, the Wings appear to be primed for a turnaround season in 2026 after a combined 19-65 record over the past two years.
Injuries have been a part of Fudd’s story, though, much like they were for Bueckers before her. Fudd suffered an ACL/MCL tear in 2019, a foot injury in 2021-22 and more knee issues the following season.
Accolades poured in for Fudd during her final season at UConn, claiming All-America honors from the Associated Press, USBWA and the Wooden Award. She was the 2026 Big EastScholar-Athlete of the Year and All-Big East First Team member, while also earning NCAA Fort Worth Regional 1 All-Region Team recognition, leading the Huskies to their 25th trip to the Final Four. Fudd scored 34 points against Syracuse in the second round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, but was held to just eight in the Huskies’ loss in the national title game against South Carolina.
“There are no words to describe this feeling. It’s surreal,” Fudd said in a televised interview at the draft. “I know how to space the floor. I know how to read the game. I’m going to contribute any way I can.”
Fudd is now the seventh UConn Husky to be selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft. The draft was held in New York City at The Shed at Hudson Yards.