Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd Say They Split Over a Year Ago

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd told listeners Friday that their romantic relationship ended more than a year ago — before the Dallas Wings made them teammates again — and that they remain friends who finished a full WNBA season as professionals.

The former University of Connecticut stars shared the update on Fudd’s podcast, Fudd Around and Find Out, in an episode covered by The Guardian, CBS Sports and NBC Connecticut. Both players asked fans to stop sending hostile messages to them, their families and people close to them.

What did they say on the podcast?

“Before we continue with anything else, Paige and I have something that we want to share with everyone,” Fudd said, according to The Guardian and CBS Sports. “We are no longer together. I don’t know how else to say that.”

Bueckers said the split was not recent. “It’s been like, over a year,” she said on the episode, per CBS Sports. “We were not together before she got drafted, 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.”

NBC Connecticut reported that Fudd said they had addressed what they needed to share and that further personal details would stay private. The pair ended the segment on a lighter note, joking that they were “still gang.”

Why did draft speculation matter?

Bueckers was the No. 1 overall pick by Dallas in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Fudd went No. 1 to the same franchise in 2026, making them the first college teammates to go first overall in consecutive drafts since UConn’s Tina Charles and Maya Moore in 2010 and 2011, The Guardian reported.

Fudd’s selection drew intense attention to their personal lives. At Wings media day in April, Bueckers said their relationship was “nobody’s business but our own,” denied influencing the pick and credited Fudd’s resilience and career-best UConn year, according to The Guardian. CBS Sports noted that Wings staff earlier declined to discuss players’ personal lives at Fudd’s introductory press conference.

On Friday, Bueckers again rejected the idea that romance shaped the draft. She said the two had already played an entire season together after breaking up and described them as “the utmost professional,” CBS Sports and The Guardian reported.

How did their 2026 season go?

Dallas finished with a franchise-record 27 regular-season wins and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2023, The Guardian reported. The Wings pushed eventual champion Golden State to a decisive Game 3 in the first round before losing.

CBS Sports said Bueckers averaged 20.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists, made the All-WNBA Second Team for a second straight year and finished sixth in MVP voting. Fudd averaged 13.1 points in 30 games, shot 39.7% from three and earned All-Rookie honors before season-ending right knee surgery, according to The Guardian and CBS Sports. Fudd had also become the first rookie to win the 3-Point Contest, CBS Sports reported.

What else did they ask of fans?

Bueckers said speculation had brought negativity and messages aimed at family and friends. “We’ve seen a lot of hate,” she said, per The Guardian. Both players said they do not condone tearing one person down to lift the other, NBC Connecticut reported.

They said they will keep supporting each other as friends and teammates while eventually moving on in their personal lives, and asked fans not to send messages about what the other is doing.

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