Wings' Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd reveal they broke up over a year ago, before Fudd was drafted by Dallas
· Yahoo Sports
Before the 2026 WNBA season began, Paige Bueckers asserted at Dallas Wings media day that the franchise drafting Azzi Fudd first overall this year had nothing to do with the now-two-time All-Star guard.
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Bueckers quieted any remaining doubters on Friday’s episode of Fudd’s podcast, revealing that she and Fudd — who previously teamed up to win a national championship at UConn — broke up over a year ago, before the Wings selected Fudd with the top pick.
“So all of those narratives can go to bed,” Bueckers said, alongside Fudd and her “Fudd Around and Find Out” co-host Ashanti Plummer.
Bueckers continued: “[Azzi] was not drafted because she was my girlfriend. She was drafted because she deserved it, and she's an amazing human, amazing basketball player, and we're still friends; we're still cool.
“We broke up over a year ago, so we played an entire season together. We're the utmost professional. We care about basketball.”
Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd reveal they broke up over a year ago: pic.twitter.com/zdv5314y4V
— Kalan Hooks (@KalanHookstv) November 6, 2026
The end-of-relationship announcement was planned and came a bit more than six and a half minutes into Friday’s episode.
“Paige and I have something that we want to share with everyone: We are no longer together,” Fudd said before she and Bueckers laughed.
Bueckers then clarified how much time has passed since the breakup.
“And to share that because everybody's going to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, they're teammates. How is this going to work?’” Bueckers said.
During Bueckers’ and Fudds’ first season as pro teammates, the Wings set a single-season franchise record with 27 wins. Under new head coach Jose Fernandez, Dallas did a complete 180, bouncing back from a 10-win campaign in 2025 and returning to playoffs for the first time in three years.
Although Fudd was limited to 30 games because of a knee injury that ultimately required season-ending surgery, the smooth-shooting guard made the WNBA All-Rookie Team. She posted 13.1 points and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 45.6% from the field, including 39.7% from 3-point land.
Bueckers, meanwhile, built on her 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year campaign, shooting north of 50% from the floor (51.2%) and 40% from long range (41%) this time around. She clocked out averaging 20.9 points, 5.9 assists and 4.1 rebounds, earning her second All-WNBA Second Team honor.
Dallas bowed out in the first round of the playoffs, losing a winner-take-all game to the eventual WNBA champion Golden State Valkyries. But the Wings have a bright future.
Bueckers and Fudd are at the center of those promising prospects.
Bueckers appeared to confirm her relationship with Fudd in July 2025, during Bueckers’ rookie season in the W.
It had been a source of fan speculation for a while and became an even bigger talking point online, particularly when the Wings drafted Fudd this year, after Fudd’s final season at UConn.
Then, during Fudd’s introductory news conference, Wings PR shut down a question about whether Fudd and Bueckers were still dating and, if so, how they’d navigate that dynamic as teammates in the W. That awkward moment created controversy, which Bueckers eventually quelled with her media day statement.
Amid her “Fudd Around and Find Out” appearance, Bueckers launched into what she called “a speech.”
“There's a whole list and notes of things that I would love to address if I had the time or the energy,” she said. “But I think, and Azzi can agree to this, just to start by saying we don't stand for hate of any kind, any putting people down to lift us up individually, together. Any negative nature of that kind, we don't associate with that, we don't condone that.
“If you're using our names and our image to spread that, that's not who we are and that's not what we're about. But if you support us, why would you hate on our teammates? Why would you hate on our friends? Why would you hate on our family? Why would you just tear people down to lift us up? That's never been something that we've stood for.”
Bueckers added: “We've seen a lot of negativity, we've seen a lot of hate — we've had stuff sent to us, we've had stuff sent to our family, our friends, and I hate that we have to address this, but just to control the narrative, there's been some crazy things said about us. I feel like I set the precedent in this, but to readdress it, sometimes in life there's just seasons, and sometimes in life two people are just at different points of their life. We still support each other. We're still going to be great friends. We're still going to be great teammates. We're going to be professionals. We are still going to have other friends. We will eventually move on. I know we will continue to be outside and be lit and have a good time. So we should not get punished for that as well.”
Fudd chimed in, mentioning that they don’t need people messaging them about what the other person’s up to.
It’s also important to note that relationships between WNBA players, including teammates, are not uncommon.
“All the negative things can be put aside, and you don't need to overanalyze everything,” Bueckers said. “We're still going to have normal teammate and human interactions with each other and with other people. So overanalyzing, I feel like this world has turned into a parasocial thing. We've kind of seen it all, unfortunately. We haven't, but we've seen a lot.”
Before transitioning to the next segment of the podcast, Fudd and Bueckers fist-bumped.
“We know you guys are curious and probably have a ton of questions,” Fudd said, “but we've addressed everything that we need to, and the rest will stay with us.”