DHJ Quick Take: Azzi Fudd Embraces Team-First Focus on Spreading Positivity and Earning Time
- Prioritizing the Work Over the Role: Following her historic 24-point breakout performance in Brooklyn, Azzi Fudd emphasized that her approach remains centered on earning rotation time through daily practice habits rather than tracking whether she starts or comes off the bench.
- Pro-Level Professionalism: The No. 1 overall pick admitted she entered her first WNBA training camp uncertain about how teammates would handle shifting nightly workloads once basketball became a job. Instead, she found an incredibly encouraging environment.
- Modeling the Veterans’ Blueprint: Fudd credited Maddy Siegrist and Alysha Clark as models for her transition process, noting how watching Siegrist stay aggressive, maintain defensive focus, and make an instant impact during condensed minutes helped shape her own mentality.
- Locker Room Depth and Synergy: Fudd highlighted Li Yueru’s plus-18 breakout performance against Chicago as a prime example of the locker room’s collective buy-in, pointing out that seeing teammates stay positive and ready on off-days directly powers the Wings’ deep rotation.
BROOKLYN — Dallas Wings rookie Azzi Fudd said her approach to her role is built on earning minutes rather than seeking a specific spot in the rotation.
Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, made the comments during pregame availability ahead of Sunday’s 91-76 road win over the New York Liberty at Barclays Center. She scored a career-high 24 points off the bench on 9-of-15 shooting and set the Wings franchise rookie record for 3-pointers in a single game.
“I’m in a super incredible and rare situation whereas I’m on a team with some incredible vets. So to me, it doesn’t matter if I’m starting, if I’m coming off the bench, if I’m playing the whole game, if I’m playing just 10 minutes,” Fudd said. “I’m going to earn my time from what I do in practice.”
Azzi Fudd’s Production Continues to Climb
Fudd has come off the bench in each of Dallas’ first seven games behind a starting lineup featuring Odyssey Sims, Paige Bueckers, and Arike Ogunbowale. Fudd is averaging 11.0 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 23.8 minutes per game across six appearances. She is shooting 56.3% from the floor and 43.5% from three.
Given that Fudd has scored in double figures in three consecutive games and continues to impact the game on both ends, it remains to be seen how long she will be coming off the bench. Head coach Jose Fernandez mentioned postgame in New York that Fudd continues to earn more minutes and is “trending that direction” toward starting. Fernadnez started Fudd in the second half against the Liberty, setting up her scoring 17 of her 24 points in the third quarter in what proved to be a difference-making choice.
“How many minutes did she play tonight? Thirty-two? Her minutes have increased game by game,” Fernandez said. “I think it’s been a conversation. I think we’re headed that direction. I think it showed with her being on the floor and what she did. She started in the second half.”
Modeling Veterans’ Mindset
The mentality Fudd has internalized in her first month as a pro didn’t come pre-formed. Speaking pregame ahead of the Wings’ May 22 game in Atlanta, the rookie said she came into the league uncertain about how teammates would handle the transition to changing roles as basketball became a job rather than a college experience.
“I think it’s been really amazing to see. You see that in college, but then you go to the pro level and, at least for me, I wasn’t sure how people would respond, what the attitude or mentality would be like when you don’t play because now it’s a job,” Fudd told Dallas Hoops Journal. “But here, it’s been really cool to see how encouraging everyone’s been no matter what their role is that night. It might change night to night, but just the encouragement and knowing that it’s a team win whether you played 30 minutes, 10 minutes or didn’t play at all.”
Fudd identified two specific teammates as the models for her approach: Maddy Siegrist and veteran Alysha Clark. Siegrist has carved out a rotation role in her third WNBA season after entering the league as the No. 3 overall pick in 2023, while Clark is a two-time WNBA champion in her 14th season.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time with the birthday girl [Maddy Siegrist] over there and seeing her mindset. She talked about it recently — when it’s her time to go in, she doesn’t control when or how much she plays, but when she goes in, her main focus is to make a difference, be aggressive, play great defense and score,” Fudd told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Having someone like her to look up to, someone like AC to look up to, just constantly pouring positivity into other people has been incredible.”
The team-first culture Fudd described was on display three days before her Atlanta comments. Li Yueru, who had played sparingly through the season’s opening weeks, was inserted into the rotation in the Wings’ May 20 game at Chicago and posted a plus-18 in 19 minutes. Fudd pointed to Yueru’s response as the kind of buy-in that defines the locker room.
“I think something special about our team is our depth, our bench, our versatility and the force that we can bring in. The way that Li’s performed the last couple nights has been incredible, and I think that’s just a testament to the kind of people we have on this team and their personalities,” Fudd told Dallas Hoops Journal. “She didn’t play much the first couple games, or at all really, and she stayed positive. She kept working every single day in practice and on off days. To see her go in, you didn’t see her confidence waver. She knew she belonged, she knew we needed her, and she performed exactly like that.”
Embracing The No. 1 Pick Spotlight
While much of the media on the Wings’ three-game road trip fixated on the Wings’ decision to draft Fudd No. 1 overall before tip-off, she has remained unbothered and measured in how she handles the conversation. In New York, she spoke about landing in Dallas a “blessing” and a situation she views as being the “best in the league.”
“Obviously, being the number one pick is incredible. It’s such an honor, such a blessing, but I think it doesn’t matter what number you’re picked or where you go. You’re trying to make a name for yourself, trying to prove that you belong in the W, trying to help your team win,” Fudd said. “So I’m fortunate enough that I’m with the Dallas Wings, with, in my opinion, the best in the league. I’m really excited to be on this team with this staff.”
The Wings (4-3) host the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday, May 28, at College Park Center. Tip-off is 7 p.m. CT on Prime.
More Wings Coverage on Dallas Hoops Journal
- ‘The Numbers Don’t Lie’: Azzi Fudd’s Rookie Record, Dallas Wings’ Suffocating Second Half Power 91-76 Win Over New York Liberty
- Dallas Wings vs. New York Liberty Postgame Interviews: Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Arike Ogunbowale And Jose Fernandez (May 24, 2026)
- ‘Felt Like She Had 25’: Awak Kuier Shows Dynamic Potential For Dallas Wings Amid Career-High vs. Atlanta Dream
- ‘Ready For Every Second’: How Li Yueru’s Positive Mindset Bolsters Dallas Wings’ Center Depth
- ‘Short-Term Memory’: Dallas Wings Fall 86-69 To Atlanta Dream As Rhyne Howard Drops 25 In Fourth-Quarter Pull-Away
- ‘You Have To Own The Glass’: How Dallas Wings Plan To Rewrite The Script In Atlanta Dream Rematch
- ‘Taking What The Defense Gave Me’: How Jessica Shepard’s Triple-Double Unlocked The Dallas Wings In Chicago
- Arike Ogunbowale Reaches Historic WNBA Milestone In Dallas Wings’ Win Over Chicago Sky
- ‘Li Changed The Game Defensively’: How Li Yueru Powered A Dallas Wings Turning Point In Chicago
- ‘Controlling The Controllables’: Jessica Shepard Reflects On Dominant Double-Double For Dallas Wings vs. Washington Mystics
