The Dallas Wings selected Azzi Fudd of Connecticut with the first pick in the 2026 WNBA draft, continuing a whirlwind offseason as the league races to start its 30th season.
After back-to-back years when the top WNBA draft pick was a foregone conclusion — Caitlin Clark to the Indiana Fever in 2024, Paige Bueckers to the Dallas Wings in 2025 — the No. 1 choice this year remained a mystery all the way until Fudd's selection Monday.
TCU guard Olivia Miles and Spanish forward Awa Fam also were considered in the running to go No. 1.
Fudd, 23, averaged 17.3 points per game in her final collegiate season, her best scoring season for the Huskies. She won a championship in 2025 with Bueckers as her teammate, but she struggled in the tournament this year. In her last three games at UConn, Fudd averaged only 10.3 points, scoring only eight in a season-ending loss to South Carolina in the Final Four.
At the next level, Fudd is expected to be a great 3-point shooter and a serviceable defender at guard. Adding a layer of intrigue is that Fudd is in a romantic relationship with Bueckers, and the two went public in July.
The Wings picked first after they finished last season tied for the league’s worst record, with Chicago, at 10-34.
Miles was selected second by Minnesota after averaging a career-best 19.6 points per game for the Horned Frogs in 2025-26, her first year with the team after four seasons at Notre Dame. Miles isn’t quite the shooter Fudd is, but she makes up for her so-so outside game with an ability to get to the rim and the free-throw line. Miles is an especially great playmaker, averaging 6.5 assists in her college career. Her ability to create for others makes her a great pick for a team that doesn’t need a ball-dominant scorer.
Fam, 19, was taken third overall by Seattle. Fam is perhaps the highest-ceiling prospect in the draft but also the most mysterious. Playing for Valencia in Spain — in the top professional league for women — she is averaging 9.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-6 with interior scoring and passing skills, Fam could become more than just a complementary piece and maybe a star in her own right. But her age makes her more of a gamble than the college stars who have played against one another for several years.
One-third of the players drafted during the 15-pick first round were produced by newly crowned NCAA champion UCLA. Center Lauren Betts was taken fourth by Washington, guard Gabriela Jaquez went fifth to Chicago, and guard Kiki Rice was selected sixth by the Toronto Tempo, which joins Portland as the expansion franchises playing their first seasons in 2026. Former UCLA forward Angela Dugalić will join Betts in Washington after being selected ninth, and Bruins guard Gianna Kneepkens was selected 15th by Connecticut.
It has been an eventful year for the WNBA, which begins its 30th season. After a contentious labor negotiation dragged on until March, the league has already held an expansion draft this month. Free agency also began before the annual draft, and players signed record contracts in the wake of the new collective bargaining agreement.
Under the new agreement, Fudd will earn a $500,000 salary as the top pick as a rookie — seven times more than the $78,831 last year’s top pick, Bueckers, earned.
The 2026 regular season is set to begin May 8.
