Dallas Wings superstar Paige Bueckers is shutting down any conversation about her potential relationship with first-overall pick Azzi Fudd once and for all.
The pair of UConn Huskies have been romantically linked in the past, but after Bueckers was drafted first overall in 2025, there hadn’t been any further updates in public.
An attempt to gain clarity on this was done at Fudd’s introductory press conference after she was drafted just weeks ago, only for a team official to shut the question down.
Now, at her first press conference of the season, Bueckers took the time to address her relationship with Fudd for what she hopes is the final time this season.
‘There is something that I wanted to address and I only plan on addressing it once,’ Bueckers clearly stated to the assembled media.
‘So 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.
Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers made what she says will be her only statement on her relationship with new WNBA teammate and former UConn co-star Azzi Fudd
Fudd was drafted to the Dallas Wings with the first overall pick one year after Bueckers
Fudd and Bueckers have been romantically linked in the past, but their status is not clear
‘Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own. But— and what we choose to share is completely up to us.
‘But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do. And you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it. So that’s what I will be addressing today.
‘Me and Azzi have always been the most professional. We’ve always conducted ourselves as such, and we’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court. And 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, great leaders, the hardest workers, and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games.
‘To add on to that, Azzi Fudd was the number one 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.
‘So Azzi is… her own great individual person, and she should be celebrated as such. And now that we got that out of the way, I would love to talk basketball.’
Bueckers and Fudd played together at UConn and won the 2025 national championship
Fudd mentioned her past on-court chemistry with Bueckers as a positive for the Wings
Bueckers and Fudd were teammates at the University of Connecticut for multiple seasons and have known each other for years.
Together, they were key contributors on a team that won the 2025 national championship in a demolition of South Carolina.
After being drafted to the same spot as Bueckers, Fudd told WFAA Sports, ‘It’s so special.
‘Here I am, no control in where I get drafted, and I get to play with my best friend again. So it really is special.’
When asked if her experience playing with Bueckers in the past will help, Fudd responded, ‘Well, I think just that chemistry, knowing how to play with and off each other.
‘And then also a little bit of comfort. Like, that’s someone I went to school with for [four] years… Having someone that I already know and am close with is gonna be tremendous.’
