Paige Bueckers Praises Azzi Fudd's ‘Huge' Game vs Liberty

It was a No. 1 overall pick party at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday afternoon: Breanna Stewart (2016), Sabrina Ionescu (2020), Paige Bueckers (2025), and Azzi Fudd (2026).

Ionescu made her season debut for the New York Liberty, while two-time WNBA MVP Stewart led the team with 11 rebounds. But other than that, it was all Dallas.

The Wings won 91-76 by outscoring the Liberty 48-32 in the second half. They were led by Bueckers and Fudd, who each had a game-high 24 points, and Fudd had the best performance of her six-game-old WNBA career with six 3s and a game-high +22 plus-minus rating.

Bueckers wasn’t the least bit surprised, given that she watched Fudd torch opponents for four years at UConn.

“Just an aggressive nature,” Bueckers said of Fudd’s performance on NBC’s postgame broadcast. “It’s what we need her to be. It’s what we know she’s capable of. For her to hunt her shots, hunt her threes, but also be able to create and get deflections on the defensive end, she was huge. We had so many huge pieces step up this afternoon, but she was great.”

When sideline reporter Caroline Pineda informed Bueckers that Fudd just set the franchise record for 3s made by a rookie - a record Bueckers tied en route to winning WNBA Rookie of the Year last year - Bueckers said: “It was probably only a matter of time before she got going and got hot from the 3-point line. Records are meant to be broken, and I’m happy she got that one.”

The Wings are finding their footing under first-year head coach Jose Fernandez and have won three of their past four games, improving to 4-3 on the season. For reference, Dallas finished the 2025 season with a league-worst 10-34 record. Beating the Liberty is a statement, but the Wings will get a true gauge of where they stand against the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces in Dallas on Thursday night.

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 5:12 PM.