Dallas Wings select UConn's Azzi Fudd with No. 1 overall pick in 2026 WNBA draft

UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35) reacts after making another 3-point basket during the first half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Syracuse, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Storrs, Conn. (Jessica Hill/AP)

There will be a UConn reunion in Dallas this WNBA season.

The Dallas Wings selected guard Azzi Fudd with the first overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft Monday night, a year after choosing her former Huskies teammate Paige Bueckers at No. 1.

Fudd, 23, helped UConn to a 38-1 record and a Final Four appearance in her final college season, averaging 17.3 points on 48.1% shooting, 2.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. A 3-point shooting threat, Fudd won a national championship alongside Bueckers in 2025 and earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the Final Four that year. She is the seventh player from the school to be drafted No. 1 overall.

Dallas finished 10-34 last season, positioning the franchise for back-to-back No. 1 picks. Consecutive No. 1 picks have helped several organizations turn into contenders, and the Wings, which brought on new coach Jose Fernandez in October, hope to follow a similar trajectory.

Fudd topped several mock drafts in the months leading up to Monday, but there was no consensus No. 1 pick in 2026.

Wings general manager Curt Miller said in November after the team won the 2026 lottery that Dallas would make its pick based on need following the expansion draft and free agency, which was pushed back because the WNBA and its players’ union did not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement until March 18. Miller also suggested the possibility of a trade on draft night.

Spanish center Awa Fam Thiam had topped a number of mock drafts, and UCLA center Lauren Betts helped lead the Bruins to the national championship earlier this month. Last week, TCU guard Olivia Miles moved into the top spot in Michael Voepel’s ESPN mock draft, but Fudd reclaimed the top spot Monday. The Minnesota Lynx drafted Miles at No. 2.

ESPN had Fudd at No. 1 in its two previous mock drafts, but seemed to factor her postseason performance into her new placement. Fudd scored a career-high 34 points with eight 3-point shots in the second round, but she was 12-of-39 shooting for 31 points in UConn’s last three tournament games. In UConn’s loss to South Carolina in the national semifinal, Fudd was 3-of-15 for eight points.

But after the Wings’ made major moves in free agency over the weekend, Fudd returned to the top of ESPN’s mock draft on Monday and her odds to go No. 1 surged.

Dallas re-signed All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale and 6-6 center Awak Kuier, the second overall pick in 2021 who has sat out WNBA play since after the 2023 season. The Wings also signed former Minnesota Lynx forward Jessica Shepard (6-4) and reigning co-defensive player of the year Alanna Smith (6-4), also a former Lynx forward, to multi-year deals.

Leading up to Monday’s draft, the Wings had an arsenal of guards, headlined by Bueckers and Ogunbowale, and invested big money on frontcourt players along with returning 6-7 center Li Yueru. Drafting Fudd was the next step in Dallas’ rebuilding efforts.

The Bueckers-Fudd backcourt proved successful at UConn, and Dallas should benefit from Fudd’s shooting prowess. The Wings shot 30.4% from three in 2025.

Under the WNBA’s new landmark collective bargaining agreement, Fudd is set to make $500,000 in her rookie season. It’s a figure nearly seven times the amount of Bueckers’ salary in 2025, when she won WNBA Rookie of the Year.