Azzi Fudd sat at her press conference Thursday between Dallas Wings general manager Curt Miller and new head coach Jose Fernandez to talk about the No. 1 overall pick’s arrival to Dallas. Yet as the press conference began, it quickly became clear the focus was on last year’s No. 1 pick, Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers spoke publicly about the two’s relationship in an Instagram reel posted by WAGTalk last summer and Fudd posted a picture last year with a note taped to the back of her phone that read “Paige
Bueckers’ girlfriend.” Neither has publicly commented on the relationship since, but that hasn’t stopped the world from speculating, and it quickly became the topic of discussion in the room Thursday.
Her first question referenced Paige in an indirect way — asking how she’s going to model things Bueckers did last season to prepare for a quick turnaround from the NCAA Tournament to the WNBA season. The next asked when it set in that she would soon be teammates with Bueckers again since the two were teammates at UConn.
After a few basketball-specific questions, Dallas Morning News’ Kevin Sherrington cut out all subtext and asked the No. 1 pick about the speculated relationship.
“Paige announced last year on TikTok that y’all were a couple and I’m wondering if that is still the case and if so if y’all have talked to any other couples in the league about how they negotiate that dynamic as pro teammatess.”
Sherrington hadn’t even finished his question and Miller was already peaking over to the Wings’ media spokeswoman to step in and she quickly did.
“I understand why you have to ask that question, but we’re gonna respectfully decline from commenting on our player’s personal lives.”
That response has generated tons of responses on social media — some blaming the journalist for asking the question, others blaming the team for not being transparent, and some are frustrated for this being a story at all.
One thing is clear: Dallas and its PR team tried to work out a response to minimize this dialogue and achieved the exact opposite. I didn’t see any other clip from Thursday’s press conference get as many views across social media as this one. Sporting News’ clip of the question had 8.7 million views as of 12:30 a.m. Friday morning.
It’s messy, but it’s true: fans want to know about this relationship and that puts media members in a weird place in these press conferences. Sports publications are going to cater to what fans want, and when they see Paige Bueckers-Azzi Fudd compilations on TikTok and Instagram get millions of views, they’re going to try and work that angle into a story to get views to their sites.
This isn’t a new concept. The WNBA has had couples in the past and actively has couples in the association. Dallas themselves had a couple — Nalyssa Smith and DiJonai Carrington — share the court last season. These couples were asked about their lives and their dynamics during press conferences as well.
I don’t blame Sherrington for asking the question and I don’t blame the Wings for shutting it down, though I do think they should’ve let Fudd shut it down instead of having a team representative step in. The optics of a PR person shutting down a topic are never good and I think they should have foreseen that angle of this story.
Through all the controversy, it was a fair question. Fudd was an outstanding player at UConn a season ago, but in a draft with multiple top-tier prospects, it’s always fair to ask a team what criteria went into them drafting the player they did. In a situation like this, a relationship with the team’s superstar is absolutely within the limits of reasonable reporting to ask about.
However, Sherrington’s wording wasn’t great and the mid-question check to ask if the relationship was still ongoing gave off a more uneasy vibe than I think he intended. His delivery was awkward and that led the Wings’ shutdown to be more newsworthy than it probably should’ve been.
But to put it in NBA terms, if the Dallas Mavericks were to win the draft lottery again and draft Darryn Peterson, and it came out that Peterson and Cooper Flagg were in a relationship, I think you’d see a barrage of questions from reporters, fans, and anyone that could get within shouting distance of one of the two if that relationship played a part in drafting him.
That wouldn’t be a knock on Peterson’s talent and these questions aren’t a knock on Fudd’s talent. She is an incredibly talented player and her potential relationship with Bueckers is simply a dynamic that fans are fascinated by on a young team that looks to be a lot better than last year’s 10-34 finish.
I have no doubt Fudd and Bueckers will handle this season like professionals and will play well together regardless of their relationship status — and anyone that thinks otherwise is either trolling or severely underestimates how competitive professional athletes are – but that doesn’t mean it’s an illegitimate question. If and when Fudd is asked about this again, I hope the Wings let her take the question, because her answer — or her denial to give one — will give this situation a much cleaner resolution than having the team’s PR rep quash the question like a teacher in a classroom.
