<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, center, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, poses with head coach Jose Fernandez, right and general manager Curt Miller during an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner Greg Bibb, general manager Curt Miller and head coach Jose Fernandez stand beside former UConn women’s basketball guard Azzi Fudd. The Wings held Fudd’s introductory press conference on\u00a0Thursday in Texas.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of the Dallas Wings<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings general manager Curt Miller and head coach Jose Fernandez stand beside former UConn women’s basketball guard Azzi Fudd. The Wings held Fudd’s introductory press conference on\u00a0Thursday in Texas.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of the Dallas Wings<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, smiles during an introductory news conference Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, smiles as head coach Jose Fernandez embraces her during an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, poses with a team jersey after an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, poses with team jersey after an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, listens to a question during an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, center, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, speaks as head coach Jose Fernandez, right, and general manager Curt Miller look on during an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, center, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, holds her jersey as she poses with teammates from left, Grace Berger, Maddy Siegrist, JJ Quinerly, Aziaha James, Li Yueru and Lindsay Allen after an introductory news conference, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
The Dallas Wings rolled out the pink carpet for its latest star.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dallas hosted former UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> star guard Azzi Fudd <\/a>Thursday morning in Texas for her introductory press conference. The franchise, which drafted Fudd No. 1 overall in Monday night\u2019s WNBA Draft<\/a>, decorated the press conference room with a large pink carpet, mini tiara\u2019s on each seat \u2013 a nod to Fudd\u2019s nickname \u2018The People\u2019s Princess\u2019 \u2013 and placed a pink couch on the side of the room for Fudd\u2019s new Dallas teammates, some of whom wore pink to the event.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fudd, Wings\u2019 general manager Curt Miller and Wings\u2019 head coach Jose Fernandez spoke to reporters for about 30 minutes explaining why they picked the All-American guard in the draft and how she\u2019ll fit in in Dallas.<\/p>\n The Wings finished last season dead last in league standings and missed the playoffs for the second-straight season. This year, they\u00a0look to get back to playoff contention after bolstering their roster in free agency<\/a> and adding a deep\u00a0frontcourt, including last year\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year. Their backcourt will again be led by former Husky and last year\u2019s Rookie of the Year Paige\u00a0Bueckers,<\/a> along with\u00a0four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and now Fudd.<\/p>\n “She just stood out for me, and she stood out for our front office, and this is what we needed,” Fernandez said about why they drafted Fudd.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make CT Insider a preferred source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Fudd is the seventh player out of UConn drafted No. 1 overall, including Bueckers in 2025. The Huskies have had a league-high 52 players selected in the WNBA Draft as the program has become known for preparing its players for the next level.<\/p>\n “Just the standard of excellence that the coaches have, the staff has every single day, whether it’s in the weight room, training room, on the court, just the level of expectation they hold you to,” said Fudd, on how UConn prepared her. “You don’t skip reps. You do everything with purpose, with complete discipline.”<\/p>\n On Monday, Serah Williams was drafted No. 33 overall<\/a> by the Connecticut Sun before being traded to the Portland Fire later during the draft. Fellow graduating Husky Caroline Ducharme<\/a> also signed a training camp contract with the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “I am super-proud of both of them,” said Fudd. “Super proud of Serah. I think this is a great opportunity for both of them. And when Caroline called me the other day and informed me that she got invited to their training camp, I was tearing up. She told me I couldn’t cry because she was gonna cry, but I had tears in my eyes.<\/p>\n “I’m super-proud of her, having known her for so long, having gone through what we’ve gone through, seeing the behind the scenes of just everything she battles through, and how incredible of a person she is. She deserves this more than anyone, just the opportunity to be there to learn. I am so, so happy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it was the Huskies ahead of her or even her own family,\u00a0Fudd said she\u2019s gotten a lot of advice on playing in the\u00a0WNBA and how to embrace this next chapter of her career. Fudd\u2019s mom, Katie (then Smrcka-Duffy) was drafted No. 62 overall in 2001 by the Sacramento Monarchs.<\/p>\n “I’m super lucky to have a mom who’s been where I’ve been and growing up has been able to give me such incredible advice and just lead me and inspire me every day,” said Fudd. “So, her advice is kind of just to take it all in, be aggressive, to go in (and) be myself, stay true to who I am.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fudd had her healthiest season in a UConn uniform this year, playing all 39 of UConn\u2019s games and earning All-American status. She returned from a November 2023 ACL and meniscus tear last year and proved why she\u2019s so much more than just an elite shooter. Fudd helped lead the Huskies to the 2025 national championship and earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. This past year, her last in Storrs, she had a career year averaging career bests in points (17.3 per game), assists (3.1) and steals (2.5).<\/p>\n Even though her college career ended just 13 days ago, Fudd said Thursday she feels prepared for this next level.<\/p>\n “It’s a super-quick turnaround, but this is the best my body has felt,\u201d she said. “\u2026 I think just being super intentional since the beginning of this past season started with my diet, with just my regimen, with my sleep schedule and everything going on. And trying to control what I can control, because I knew that this next year was going to be chaos. So, I think just continuing being disciplined in how I take care of myself, care of my body. But I feel as prepared as I can be going into this.”<\/p>\n Both Miller and Fernandez reiterated that Fudd fit exactly what they were looking for in a draftee. They\u2019ve closely followed her college career from afar and with trips to Connecticut. Fernandez, who left USF this fall to become the Wings\u2019 head coach, took a trip up to\u00a0Storrs soon after being hired to scout Fudd. Miller was also seen at a handful of UConn\u2019s games this season doing the same.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi,” said Miller. “Words that we heard over and over again in the investigation of her was a winner, a competitor, a hard worker. Obviously, the skill set speaks for itself.<\/p>\n “An incredible shooter, probably one of the quickest releases in the game today, a defender with a lot of competitiveness and toughness, and ultimately, all the intangibles that goes along with Azzi.\u00a0In the locker room, being unselfish, being an incredible teammate, being a high basketball IQ player, all pointed us through a very deliberate and thorough process back to\u00a0Azzi Fudd.”<\/p>\n Fudd was projected to be one of the top four picks in Monday\u2019s draft, yet the guard said she tried hard to live in the moment this season at UConn.<\/p>\n “I knew that if I took care of what I needed to in my college season, what was going to happen at the draft was going to happen,” she said. “I was going to land where I was meant to be, whether that was here with the Wings or in a different organization. So, I really trusted that if I took care of what I needed to every single day in college, that I would land where I was supposed to be and wherever that looked like, whoever that was with, I was going to be grateful. And I couldn’t be happier with how that worked out.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Thanks to the WNBA\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement, Fudd becomes the richest rookie in the history of the league and will sign a $500,000 contract with the Wings.<\/p>\n “It is such a privilege to be joining the league at this time, and one that I don’t take lightly,” she said. “I am honored, excited, blessed to have been picked by the Wings and to be here now. I’m so excited and so grateful to be here and be part of this league.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, center, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA basketball draft, poses with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[86570,86569,102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-253316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-all-daily-sites","9":"tag-ct-insider","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}