A incredible freshman function from Azzi Fudd allowed the Dallas Wings to publish a monumental victory, however one other harmful problem awaits.
BROOKLYN—Azzi went loopy, permitting the Dallas Wings to inch again towards basketball sanity.
NBC viewers did not have to attend all day or till September for a Sunday basic between Dallas and New York: a 24-point breakout from Azzi Fudd set the tone for a 91-76 victory over the native Liberty and, a minimum of quickly, silenced critics questioning why she was named the newest No. 1 WNBA draft choose. That scoring output is an early career-high for Fudd, the most recent UConn Husky to grace the highest of the WNBA Draft board.
„I believe it simply reveals what she’s able to,“ Fudd’s accomplice in deep sharpshooting Arike Ogunbowale stated of the rookie’s breakout, per video from BIL’s Grant Afseth. „Clearly, the world’s placing strain on her nevertheless it’s day-by-day. She’s nonetheless a rookie, she’s nonetheless studying. It is actually solely recreation seven and he or she’s coming into her personal. However we’d like her to be aggressive like this, shoot the ball at any time when she’s open. She did that in the present day, and it is good to see.“
Azzi Fudd WENT OFF. And I heard she was a BUST
• 24 Factors • 3 Assists • 3 Steals• 2 Blocks• 9/15 FG• 6/12 3Ppic.twitter.com/pDgMwVz3FG
— Hater Report (@HaterReport) Could 24, 2026
Fudd. Thrice. Her.
All the pieces’s larger in (North) Texas and the rookie highlight carries a very hefty inflation.
Maybe spoiled by the incredible freshman options of latest No. 1 selections, together with that of her previous and current teammate Paige Bueckers, eyes have flocked towards Fudd. Narratives solid past her management have solely raised the quantity: the questions round Fudd and Bueckers‘ private relationship have subsided however the Minnesota breakout of second general choose Olivia Miles has led to a debate over whether or not Dallas ought to’ve maintained native loyalties with close by TCU.
Fudd’s fellow WNBA rookie and Dallas head coach Jose Fernandez has defended his early work and his participant from the supposed static, reiterating that it will take rather more to shake the religion professed when the Wings referred to as her on draft evening.
„She’s going to have an amazing profession,“ Fernandez emphatically declared within the pregame. „I believe lots of people are taking a look at it as her success as whether or not she’s beginning or she’s not beginning. I am not going to speak about what she’s gone via … Her minutes are going to proceed to extend. Different groups, when she is available in, are going to arrange for her due to how gifted she is and the way effectively she will be able to house the ground. She has proven how she will be able to create off the dribble and she will be able to defend. She’s going to be a serious piece of our success this 12 months.“
The religion of Fernandez and Co. was vindicated with curiosity on Sunday.
Fudd’s day started quietly sufficient, coming off the bench as Dallas did battle with a New York group looking for its footing because it welcomed again a number of injured headliners again into the fold. Whereas Fudd lacked an outdoor taking pictures contact within the early going, stable defensive work to the tune of a team-best plus-6 whereas Dallas nursed an early deficit. When the Wings got here out of intermission, Fudd and fellow reserve Awak Kuier had been among the many working ladies on the high of the body.
From there, Fudd handled the Liberty to iced threes amidst an prolonged weekend: a one-woman present off-Broadway ensued, as the primary of 5 triples gave Dallas a lead that might show everlasting. The next 4 proved to be excellent padding, as Fudd took a hammer to her earlier childish career-best lengthy earlier than the third interval’s 10 set free.
Fudd wound up retaining tempo with the Liberty herself, as she and the Brooklynites tied one another with 17 whole interval factors. The Fudd and the livid basically neutralized the Liberty’s sixth girl, because the supporters of seafoam yielded to UConn followers taking in one in every of Fudd and Bueckers‘ first skilled collaborations. The Husky hounds went residence notably glad, because the lauded nationwide champions every totaled 24 factors to publish Dallas‘ third win in its final 4 video games.
Behind Fudd’s Breakout
Satirically, Fudd blistering breakout was led to via a need to play slower, which she revealed as one in every of her major targets as she basked in her breakout.
„I felt like I used to be speeding a bit bit each time I caught the ball,“ Fudd stated. „I wasn’t studying, I used to be placing the ball down, going too quick. My objective is simply to decelerate … I am studying what was there and that was the three tonight.“
Fudd rising victorious in a Husky civil battle put a stamp on Dallas‘ invoice of upset: as Stewart tried to drive down the lane with simply over three minutes remaining, she was rudely met by Fudd, who subsequent rejection preserved Dallas‘ double-figure lead and allowed the clock-running ritual of victory to start.
Even Stewart could not assist however rave about her successor on each the UConn championship ledgers and the WNBA’s high draft slot, hoping that critics would discover new materials past stuffing her in a three-point field.
„Azzi’s an unimaginable participant. She was drafted No. 1 for a motive,“ Stewart stated. „Her shot and launch is so fast and so lethal. She’s greater than a 3-point shooter and persons are going to begin to see that as her recreation grows within the W.“
Azzi Fudd respectfully tells Breanna Stewart, „No!“ pic.twitter.com/e0BcuOuJgM
— zavanté.˙⋆ ♱ (@zavanchy) Could 24, 2026
Gonna Fly Now?
Dallas (4-3) was a classy preseason playoff entrant amongst prognosticators and it has responded with its greatest seven-game begin since 2023. That is simply the fourth such profitable document the franchise has in its 11-year historical past in North Texas and every of the prior three earners reached the playoffs.
The hunt to maintain that document rolling, nonetheless, contains a formidable impediment on Thursday evening when Dallas hosts the defending champion Las Vegas Aces (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video).
As if Fudd’s first fracas with adorned backcourt professionals Chelsea Grey and Jackie Younger wasn’t appointment viewing for hardwood heavies, its prelude ought to be equally engaging. Many will possible marvel if Fudd did sufficient to safe a spot within the Wings‘ beginning 5, a prospect that Fernandez wasn’t prepared to completely tackle within the aftershocks of the win over the Liberty.
However everybody in Dallas has acknowledged the multi-pronged means of Fudd’s skilled play. It will take an identical journey to rectify the Wings‘ absence on the playoff bracket (which additionally dates again to 2023) and Fudd is able to play no matter half she’s assigned. Acquainted religion, after all, additionally refuses to wane.
„We knew she had us [in New York]. We knew it was solely a matter of time,“ Bueckers stated. „It takes time as a rookie to get your legs beneath you, your ft going, and simply to get some expertise and a few reps at it. It was solely a matter of time earlier than we knew the breakout was coming. For us as teammates, to instill that we’d like her and that we all know that she’s able to doing stuff like this on any given evening, I believe that is what the longer term seems like.“
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
