Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd confirm split and reject claims their relationship affected draft pick

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd said on Friday, during an episode of Fudd’s podcast, that they ended their romantic relationship more than a year earlier and denied that the relationship influenced the Dallas Wings’ decision to select Fudd with the No 1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft.

Both players are former University of Connecticut teammates who met at a USA Basketball camp in 2017 and played four seasons together at UConn, where they helped the Huskies win the 2025 national championship; Bueckers was the No 1 overall pick by Dallas in 2025 and the pair became the first college teammates to go No 1 in consecutive WNBA drafts since Tina Charles and Maya Moore in 2010 and 2011.

On the podcast, Fudd opened the discussion saying, “Before we continue with anything else, Paige and I have something that we want to share with everyone,” and then added, “We are no longer together. I don’t know how else to say that.”

Bueckers confirmed the split and stressed its timing, saying, “We were not together before she got drafted,” and rejecting narratives that linked Fudd’s selection to their relationship with: “So all of those narratives can go to bed. She was not drafted because she was my girlfriend. She was drafted because she deserved it. She’s an amazing human, amazing basketball player. And we’re still friends. We’re still cool.”

Addressing public speculation at the Wings’ April media day, Bueckers said, “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,” and added, “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.”

Both players asked fans to stop sending hostile messages to them and people close to them; Bueckers said, “We’ve seen a lot of negativity. We’ve seen a lot of hate,” and added, “We’ve had stuff sent to us. We’ve had stuff sent to our family, our friends.” She also said, “I hate that we have to address this, but just to control the narrative, there’s been some crazy things said about us,” and observed, “Sometimes in life, there’s just seasons. And sometimes in life, two people are just at different points of their life.”

On the court, Fudd — an Associated Press All-American who helped UConn to the 2025 title — was selected first overall in a draft described in the report as lacking a clear consensus top prospect and quickly set a franchise rookie single-game record by hitting six three-pointers against the New York Liberty in May, breaking the mark previously held by Bueckers; Fudd averaged 13.1 points in 30 games as a rookie and shot 39.7% from three-point range before her season ended prematurely because of a right knee injury that required surgery.

Dallas posted a franchise-record 27 regular-season wins, a 17-game improvement from the previous year, reached the playoffs for the first time since 2023 and pushed eventual champion Golden State Valkyries to a deciding third game in the first round; Bueckers earned her second consecutive All-Star selection during that season.

Bueckers said the separation has not affected their ability to play together, noting they already spent an entire season as teammates after breaking up and asserting their commitment to professionalism: “We’re the utmost professional,” she said. “We care about basketball and we’re still friends.” She added, “We still support each other. We are still going to be great friends. We are going to be great teammates. We are going to be professionals,” and concluded, “At the end of the day, we still care about each other and want the best for each other.”