Fudd goes No. 1
The Dallas Wings used the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft to select UConn guard Azzi Fudd. (espn.com) Fudd heads to Dallas with an expected rookie payout around $500,000, Minnesota took Olivia Miles at No. 2, and UCLA placed six players in the draft — the first program ever with five first‑round picks and six total selections. ( )
Azzi Fudd went first overall to the Dallas Wings on Monday night, putting UConn’s guard at the top of the 2026 Women’s National Basketball Association draft. (espn.com) The draft was held April 13 in New York, and ESPN reported Fudd’s rookie scale salary for the No. 1 slot starts at $500,000 under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement. (espn.com, espn.com) Minnesota used the No. 2 pick on Olivia Miles, and the new rookie scale pays the second pick $466,913, according to ESPN’s salary breakdown. (espn.com, espn.com) This draft landed in the first spring of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s new labor deal, which ESPN reported lifts the 2026 salary cap to about $7 million, pushes average salary to around $600,000, and takes the minimum above $300,000. (espn.com, espn.com) Dallas announced Fudd as a 5-foot-11 guard who spent five seasons at Connecticut and was part of the Huskies’ 2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association championship team. (wings.wnba.com) The night also turned into a record draft for UCLA. ABC7 Los Angeles reported the Bruins became the first program to place five players in the first round and six players overall in one Women’s National Basketball Association draft. (abc7.com) ABC7 said those six UCLA picks were Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker, coming just days after the program won its first National Collegiate Athletic Association title. (abc7.com) ESPN had flagged that possibility before the draft, reporting UCLA was on track to become the first school with six players selected if its senior class converted its projections into picks. (espn.com) By the end of Monday night, the headline stayed the same: Dallas got the first call, and Fudd entered the league at the front of a draft shaped by bigger paydays and a record-setting college pipeline. (espn.com, abc7.com, espn.com)
