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In April 2026, Azzi Fudd was the #1 draft pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, following in the footsteps of Paige Bueckers. Both Fudd and Bueckers played on the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team and were selected first to play for the Dallas Wings.
Fudd and Bueckers also made headlines because they revealed that they were dating months prior. When they signed on to the same pro team, Fudd told reporters, “Paige is an incredible player. Everybody knows that she’s someone that makes playing basketball with easy, and so I think just the prior experience knowing how to play with her, play off of her will only help going to this.”
In November 2026, the couple revealed they were no longer together. “We’re not together anymore; it’s been a while,” Bueckers said on the Fudd Around and Find Out podcast. “[We] share that because everybody [was] like, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re teammates, how is this going to work?’”
“We were not together before she got drafted,” Bueckers continued. “She was not drafted because she was my girlfriend. She was drafted because she deserved it. She’s an amazing human, an amazing basketball player. And we’re still friends, we’re still cool. We played an entire season together; we’re the utmost professionals.”
What’s the full story between Bueckers and Fudd? When did they start dating and why did they breakup? Swooon is breaking down everything we know about their former courtship.
When did Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd start dating?
In an interview with WAG Talk in July 2025, Bueckers was quizzed about how well she knew her mystery “D1 girlfriend.” A smiling Bueckers correctly answered a series of questions about her partner’s basketball career and family. At the end of the video, Bueckers hard-launched their relationship, letting everyone know she was dating Fudd.
College basketball fans might’ve guessed who Bueckers was referring to beforehand. They wasted no time flocking to the comments section to express their support for the couple. “Ok this is like THE REALL hard launch,” one wrote, while another chimed in, “This interviewer deserves a raise… I dream for nights like this.”
There’s no clear indication of when the two started dating, but fans suspect the longtime friends became an item in the summer of 2025. On June 21, Fudd posted an Instagram Story that showed her phone case, which had a “Paige Bueckers’ Girlfriend” sticker on it.
On the same day her WAG Talk interview went viral, Bueckers shared a carousel of images that included her girlfriend. In one of the Instagram photos, the couple snuggled up during some downtime together.
How did Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd meet?
Bueckers and Fudd were teammates at UConn before Bueckers entered the WNBA in 2025 and Fudd followed a year later. However, they met years before that while trying out for the USA Basketball team in 2017. “We both made the team, I realized that she’s actually one of the best players I’ve ever seen play,” Fudd told The UConn Blog.
Since Bueckers is a year older, she went to UConn first, campaigning for Fudd to join her there. She got her wish when Fudd committed in 2020. They played together for three seasons, when they weren’t impacted by injuries.
Why did Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd break up?
During their November podcast appearance, Bueckers said they decided to talk about their breakup publicly because of fan speculation and online hate directed at their relationship. “We’ve seen a lot of negativity,” she explained. “We’ve seen a lot of hate. We’ve had stuff sent to us. We’ve had stuff sent to our family, our friends.”
She continued, adding the reason for their breakup. “I hate that we have to address this, but just to control the narrative, there’s been some crazy things said about us. Sometimes in life, there’s just seasons. And sometimes in life, two people are just at different points of their life.”