Paige Bueckers Explains Why Playing With Azzi Fudd on Wings Is a ‘Dream Come True’

The former UConn teammates will now play in the WNBA together in Dallas.

Paige Bueckers is excited to team up with Azzi Fudd again. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Sunday officially marked the first day of practices for the Wings. The 2026 WNBA season starts in just a few short weeks, and fans will get to see Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd team up on the court again after Fudd was drafted with the No. 1 pick last week.

There’s been a lot of conversation surrounding these two players ever since Fudd was drafted. The duo have played with each other since they were in high school, and they notably won a NCAA national title with UConn in 2025 before Bueckers was drafted by Dallas. So, of course Fudd’s been asked quite a few times about how exciting it is to be teammates with Bueckers again.

However, Fudd’s also recently been asked about her relationship status with Bueckers as the two stars were linked last summer, although they never formally confirmed nor denied the rumors. The Wings PR person declined letting Fudd answer a question about her personal life at her introductory press conference last week, which Bueckers was not in attendance for.

Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers go way back, previously teaming up at UConn, where they won a national title. | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

Bueckers did speak on Fudd’s addition to the Wings at Sunday’s practice, though, marking the first time she’s talked about teaming up with Fudd again since the draft, which Bueckers did attend. She was seen cheering for Fudd when she walked across the stage.

“Obviously we have a lot of experience going back to, shoot, when we were like 16 playing together. I know her game really well, she knows my game really well, so to be able to be back in this stage to live out our dreams. This is stuff we talked about since we were freshmen in high school,” Bueckers said, via Myah Taylor of The Dallas Morning News. “Being at this stage, we got to be together in college, we got to play together at the junior Olympic level, now we get to play in the WNBA together, it’s just a dream come true.”

Bueckers then praised Fudd’s style of basketball and explained why she thinks she’ll adjust to being a Wing pretty fast.

“In terms of the basketball aspect of it, she just affects the game in so many different ways,” Buckers continued. “Obviously everybody talks about her shooting, but it’s her ability to slash, to cut, her IQ. Defensively, she disrupts a lot of stuff. ... Her game has so many aspects to it, it provides us with so many different things to do offensively and defensively in terms of versatility. Just having her on the floor, she’s a 40-plus percent three-point shooter, so to have that spacing, too, just with her presence. She’ll do a lot of great things for us.”

Paige Bueckers on how Azzi Fudd impacts the game: “She knows how to play and play the right way.” pic.twitter.com/NhC9yzCWym

— Myah Taylor (@t_myah) April 19, 2026

It’ll be exciting to see how they team up on the court while playing for Dallas. Fudd’s lucky to have Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, by her side on the court and in the locker room to give any advice she may have from her rookie season. Adjusting to the W is no small task, but Bueckers seems to have full faith in Fudd acclimating well.

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