Bueckers hopes focus can be on Fudd as 'a basketball player' - ESPN

Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers addressed the buzz surrounding her relationship with teammate Azzi Fudd in an opening statement at Wings media day Monday, saying, «Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi's personal relationship is nobody's business but our own, and what we choose to share is completely up to us.»

Bueckers went public with her relationship with Fudd in July 2025, though the two have not commented on it since last summer. Bueckers and Fudd, both No. 1 recruits out of high school, were teammates at UConn for four years, won a national title together in 2025 and have been close friends since their high school days.

«Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professional,» said Bueckers, who was selected at No. 1 by Dallas last year and is the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year. «We've always conducted ourselves as such, and we've never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court. That's what we continue to do.

»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, the hardest workers, and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games."

Bueckers said that she plans to address her relationship with Fudd only this one time and that if they continue to get asked about it, they will refer to this answer or deflect and talk about teammates.

«Azzi Fudd was a No. 1 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 a basketball player, her resilience, her strength and her career-best year at UConn,»