The Dallas Wings made it official Monday night, selecting former University of Connecticut guard Azzi Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick.
Fudd becomes the seventh No. 1 pick in UConn history and will now reunite in Dallas with her girlfriend, Paige Bueckers, the 2025 No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year. The two won a national championship together at UConn and will now look to build something in Dallas.
Fudd arrives with a payday that would have been unimaginable just one year ago.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement ratified in March, Fudd will earn $500,000 in her first season — nearly seven times what Bueckers earned as the top pick in 2025. The new CBA also raised the league salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million and tied future salaries directly to league revenue, meaning the numbers will only grow as the league does.
Just behind Fudd, the draft belonged to UCLA. Coming off a national championship, Lauren Betts went No. 4 to the Washington Mystics and Gabriela Jaquez, the sister of Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., went No. 5 to the Chicago Sky.
By night’s end, UCLA had a record six players selected, including five in the first round — both all-time WNBA Draft records.
The most jaw-dropping moment of the night came courtesy of Flau’jae Johnson. The two-time Louisiana State University All-American and 2023 national champion was selected No. 8 by the Golden State Valkyries, only for WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to return to the podium less than an hour later and announce a trade sending Johnson to the Seattle Storm.
Johnson said she did not know about the trade beforehand, but took it in stride. “They got a good one, and they really wanted me, so I’m excited to be there,” Johnson said.
The draft capped a transformational week for the league as a whole. With two new expansion teams — the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo — tipping off in 2026 and three more franchises approved for future seasons, the WNBA is entering its 30th season as a different league than the one it was just 12 months ago.
The combination of record rookie salaries, rising television viewership and a draft class headlined by household names suggests the league’s growth is only getting started.