Diana Taurasi went on NBC Sports this week and made her pick for the Dallas Wings on April 13. It’s Azzi Fudd.
Talking with Natalie Esquire and Terrika Foster-Brasby, she got into what Fudd would mean to Paige Bueckers specifically.
“I think just from a bird’s eye view, you would say Azzi is the number one pick and, you know, the synergy that she has with Paige on the court, they play great together,” Taurasi said.
Bueckers was Dallas’s first overall pick a year ago and won Rookie of the Year in her first WNBA season. Fudd spent four seasons alongside her at UConn, winning a national championship together before Bueckers turned pro.
Two guards who can initiate offense, create their own shot, defend multiple positions and shoot from deep is a profile most franchises spend years trying to build. Dallas would be doing it in back-to-back drafts.
“When you get to the WNBA, if you have two guards that can pretty much do everything — defend, pass, shoot the three, get to the paint — then we’re talking about building championship DNA,” Taurasi said.
Fudd is averaging 17.8 points and 3.0 assists while shooting 45.4% from three this season, all career highs. She dropped 34 points Monday in UConn’s 98-45 win over Syracuse, going 8-of-11 from three to tie her career high. The Huskies carry a 52-game winning streak into Friday’s Sweet 16 matchup with North Carolina.
“The way Azzi’s been playing — just dominant — she looks on the court on both ends right now,” Taurasi said. “I would say she’s probably the one pick.”
The No. 1 pick comes down to Fudd or Spain’s Awa Fam. Analysts have generally leaned toward Fam as the higher-upside selection for a franchise still in its rebuilding phase. UCLA’s Lauren Betts, a two-time First-Team All-American, has largely fallen out of the first-overall conversation. Wings fans have pushed for Fudd. It’s been the question since October.
Taurasi wasn’t making a case about Fudd’s individual numbers. She and Bueckers already ran a backcourt together through a national title run at UConn. They won. Now Bueckers is in Dallas, Fudd is three weeks from the draft, and Taurasi thinks the Wings should put them back on the same floor.
Taurasi won a national title at UConn under Geno Auriemma in 2001-02. Dallas holds the first overall pick for the second straight year, with the draft set for April 13.
More Dallas Wings News & WNBA Rumors
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