By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers said her relationship with teammate and fellow No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd will have no effect on what they do on the court as they try to turn around a franchise with a long history of losing.
Bueckers made a statement before taking questions from reporters during media day for the Wings on Monday at the University of Texas at Arlington, where the WNBA team plays home games.
The statement from Bueckers came 11 days after the Wings wouldn’t let Fudd answer a question about her relationship with her former UConn teammate during Fudd’s introductory news conference in Dallas.
The two went public with their relationship last year, after winning a national championship together in Bueckers’ final season at UConn, and haven’t addressed the status of that relationship since the draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers said. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us. But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do. And you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it. So that’s what I’ll be addressing today.”
Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, said the Wings drafting Fudd had nothing to do with her. After winning a title with Bueckers, Fudd’s UConn team lost to South Carolina in the Final Four this month.
“Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professionals,” Bueckers said. “We’ve always conducted ourselves as such. And we’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court.”
Fudd met with reporters about two hours before Bueckers did on media day and wasn’t asked about the relationship.
Bueckers was a three-time Associated Press All-American at UConn, and Fudd joined that list last season. They were together for three seasons with the Huskies.
“Me and Azzi are not new to this,” Bueckers said. “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 and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games.”
When Fudd was introduced, Wings general manager Curt Miller said the club didn’t hesitate on a decision that added to an already elite backcourt with Bueckers and four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.
“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention, on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.”
Bueckers was a runaway winner for the rookie award after averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. But the Wings tied for last place in the WNBA, and their 34 losses were twice as many as Bueckers experienced in four seasons combined at UConn. It was the 13th losing record in the past 16 seasons for the franchise.
“The way she goes about things, she always sees it as a challenge, as an opportunity to grow,” Fudd said earlier this month. “So last year it was, she’s not used to losing, but how can she take those losses, continue to grow, continue to be a great leader, make everyone around her better. So if I can adopt anything from her, that’s definitely one of the things that I want to kind of use for myself.”
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