For the seventh time in UConn women’s basketball history, a Husky goes number one overall in the WNBA Draft as the Dallas Wings take Azzi Fudd.
The 2025 NCAA Champion averaged 17.3 points per game in her final season with the Huskies as she helped UConn to another Final Four appearance. It will be a reunion with a fellow champion from that 2025 season as last year the Wings drafted Paige Bueckers with the number one overall pick.
For the Wings, they are banking on the uptick in guard play across the WNBA to win Dallas their first ever WNBA Championship. Over the course of this offseason there was talk of pivoting away from Arike Ogunbowale but the team decided to double down and keep the Wings legend on the roster.
With that a three guard lineup of Fudd, Bueckers, and Ogunbowale is likely to be at the forefront for the Wings to win games and try to make a return to the playoffs after winning just 10 games in the 2025 season. In that, expect Fudd to be relied upon as an elite “3&D” player. Fudd ranked second in the NCAA in three point percentage at 44.7% while also shooting a high volume of 6.7 threes per game. The moment that Fudd steps on the court she will be respected as one of the most dangerous three point shooters in the entire WNBA.
Fudd has also shown to be a more than capable defender in her time playing at UConn. This past season, Fudd averaged 2.5 steals per game and often accepted the challenge of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player. The growth in that aspect of her game is incredibly clear. On the defensive side of the ball it can be harder to look at just the numbers and find the improvement but it is straight forward for Fudd who’s career high in steals prior to this season was just 1.4 steals per game.
Maybe more than any skill that Fudd offers the Wings, the part of her game that stands out the most is her consistency. Health has certainly been an issue of the course of her career, missing large chunks of her first three seasons at UConn, but her final two seasons in Storrs has seemingly put that behind her. When she is on the floor, she stays on the floor. This season, with her largest task on the defensive side of the ball yet, she averaged less than a foul per game.
With Fudd you are banking on getting a shooter that is going to hit at a ridiculous rate from deep while also drafting a very good defender that isn’t going to find themselves in foul trouble. It isn’t hard to see the reason why the Wings believe that she is worthwhile for this top draft selection.
The Wings’ offseason moves of signing bigs from free agency such as Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard set the table for them to not have a need at center to fill at the number one spot. They built their roster this offseason with it in mind that when draft night came, Azzi Fudd’s name would be the one called.
It is a reunion in Dallas with Paige Bueckers and it is a new chapter for Fudd as she looks to try and bring the UConn winning ways to a franchise that has yet to find it in their history. It is a bet on the future not only for the way this roster will be built but for the direction of WNBA rosters across the board focusing more on guards. The Wings have decided to be the first to fully invest in that vision and it is hard to think of a more stamped combination of young players when it comes to winning than Fudd and Bueckers together.
