UConn legend and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers says her off-court partnership with teammate Azzi Fudd won’t affect how they play.
Addressing the relationship at Wings media day, Bueckers said she doesn’t plan to talk to reporters about it again.
“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.”
Bueckers added that she and Fudd have been successfully balancing their personal and professional relationships for a while.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time. We have countless reps at it. We have a lot of experience with it, so we will continue to use that experience to show up and be professionals, great teammates, great leaders, the hardest workers.”
“Me and Azzi have always been the most professional. We’ve always conducted ourselves as such. We’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court. That’s what we continue to do.”
The former UConn superstars have known each other since 2017, when they were at an under-16 camp for Team USA. They became teammates again recently when Fudd became the first overall selection in the WNBA Draft. Bueckers was last year’s first pick and WNBA Rookie of the Year.
At media day Monday, Bueckers felt it necessary to assure everyone that she had nothing to do with Fudd getting drafted by the Wings.
The couple will be tasked with trying to help turn around the Wings franchise, which lost 34 games last year, twice as many as Bueckers lost in four seasons at UConn.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
