The Wings' Azzi Fudd pick is the ultimate bet on Paige Bueckers

It's not hard to see why taking Azzi Fudd at No. 1 overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft proved too tempting for the Dallas Wings to resist. She's is as proven as prospects come, having spent five years competing at the highest level at UConn. And of course, the fact that four of those years were spent alongside Paige Bueckers — whom Dallas made the No. 1 overall pick last summer — doesn't hurt either. It's a pick that you can sleep soundly over if you're GM Curt Miller, confident that Fudd's self-evident skills as a shooter and defender will make her a good player at the next level for a long time.

But it is the right pick? That's a trickier question. It's easy to argue that the Fudd pick was made with Bueckers in mind, a former college teammate ready to walk into a starting lineup on day one in the W. But what Fudd brings in floor, she lacks in ceiling — and in taking the safer path, Dallas is asking even more of its face of the franchise.

How Azzi Fudd fits next to Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale

By no means am I calling Fudd a bust, or anything close to it. On the contrary, I think it's pretty easy to understand why the Wings took her at No. 1. For starters, she's a genuinely A++ shooter, not just the best in this draft class but potentially the best in the entire league. (Arike Ogunbowale, for as much of a bucket as she is, would much rather be getting to the rim.)

That's a force multiplier, one that should make Bueckers' life a whole lot easier after the Wings shot a miserable 30.4 percent from deep last season. Not only will Bueckers and Ogunbowale have a knock-down shooter to tee up, but they'll have much more room to operate thanks to the space Fudd creates by her mere presence.

And really, that's the whole value proposition here. Fudd is not a traditional No. 1 pick in the sense that she doesn't project to be a lead ball-handler or playmaker at the next level. But everything she does — from her elite shooting to her off-ball movement to her rock-solid perimeter defense — is designed to make life easier for the stars around her. You can understand why, if the Wings are convinced that a Bueckers-Ogunbowale backcourt can be the engine of a contending team, they'd be excited to slot in Fudd around them.

Here's the thing, though: Are we really sure that Dallas was a role player away from really challenging in the West? Maybe that's unnecessarily pejorative; if Fudd's a role player, she's a very, very high-end one. Still, her game comes with real limitations. If Bueckers (and, to a slightly lesser extent, Ogunbowale) is ready for prime time with a better supporting cast around her, no one will much care. That's a big "if", though, and if that bet doesn't pan out, the Wings could look back at this pick and wish they'd taken a slightly bigger swing — one that might offer another star to grow alongside Buckers.

Did Wings play it too safe with Azzi Fudd pick?

Awa Fam is by no means a sure thing. She won't turn 20 until June, and her pro career to date consists of four seasons playing relatively limited minutes in EuroLeague for Valencia BC and then Gernika KESB. She's very much an unfinished product, one who might not be ready to even start right away as she fills out her frame and adjusts to the physical demands of the WNBA as a defender and rebounder.

But make no mistake: If Fam hits, the ceiling is the roof. At 6-foot-4, she looks downright Jokic-esque sometimes in her ability to both pass and score on the interior, only if Jokic was a less a bull in a china shop and more a ballerina with rockets attached to her shoes.

If your life depended on either Fudd or Fam becoming a good WNBA player, you'd take Fudd without hesitation. There's still so much we don't know about what Fam's game will be, and there's a chance she simply isn't strong enough to serve as the interior anchor you'd expect your center to be. But if what you're looking for is a star, well, that changes things considerably.

Which means that what we have here is a question of ceiling vs. floor, which is really a question of timeline. Clearly, the Wings don't think they're in the rebuilding phase anymore; they spent big money to import a bruising frontcourt in the form of former Lynx Jessica Shepard and Alanna Smith, and with Fudd adding some much-needed wing depth, Dallas might have all the ingredients its needs.

For their sake, and Bueckers', they better hope they're right. Because they forewent the chance to draft a true running mate, someone who, if she hits, can share the creative burden while also providing a pick-and-roll outlet. Instead of taking the long view, attempting to lay a rock-solid foundation for the future, Dallas is hoping to hop, skip and jump their way from the cellar to the playoffs — and the burden of that leap will fall squarely on Bueckers' shoulders.