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.
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.
TCU’s Miles was selected by the Lynx second overall on Monday.
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. She showed a lot of growth in the pick-and-roll game during her senior year under Geno Auriemma.
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.
Fudd is now the seventh UConn Husky to be selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft.
