Azzi Fudd is reuniting with her old UConn Huskies teammate, Paige Bueckers, as the Dallas Wings took her first overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday night.
And Fudd comes in with a historic payday in the league.
After a new collective bargaining agreement was inked between the league and the players’ association last month, Fudd is set to make $500,000 in her rookie year – a massive pay bump compared to the $78,831 Bueckers earned last season as the WNBA Draft’s first overall selection.
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This comes as the salary cap for WNBA teams also jumped from $1.5 million in 2025 to $7 million, which also brought in the first-ever million-dollar contracts. From league veterans to newcomers in the Draft, the game’s best are getting paid.
While Fudd will certainly be happy to see her paychecks, she’s also excited to make her impact with the Wings and within the WNBA.
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“I’m not really sure I have words to describe that feeling what that meant,” Fudd said after being drafted, via ESPN. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in. It’s nothing I could have imagined. The feeling of sitting with my family, with Morgan (Valley), hearing your name called, go up there. Such a surreal feeling.”
Fudd was also excited while discussing her reunion with Bueckers.
“Paige is an incredible player, everyone knows that,” she explained. “She’s someone that makes playing basketball with easy.”
With Fudd taken, the Minnesota Lynx locked in Olivia Miles out of TCU – Fudd’s biggest competition for that first overall pick. But Miles isn’t missing out on the payday, as she’s slated to make $466,913 as the second overall pick.
Center Awa Fam Thiam from Spain went to the Seattle Storm and will get a $436,016 salary for the 2026 WNBA season. Then, national champions Lauren Betts (Washington Mystics), Gabriel Jacquez (Chicago Sky) and Kiki Rice (Toronto Tempo) rounded out the top six.
UCLA also broke UConn’s record of having four players drafted in the first round, which was set in 2002 by the Huskies. Angela Dugalić rounded out the bunch after Washington took her ninth overall, keeping her with Betts as they enter the league.
Another notable name was LSU guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who was taken eighth overall by the Golden State Valkyries, but she was traded to the Storm for the rights to Marta Suarez from TCU. The Storm had taken her with the first pick of the second round. The Valkyries also received a 2028 second-round pick in the deal.
Overall, every drafted player who makes a team entering the regular season will make more than any WNBA player did during the 2025 season, with a minimum salary of $270,000 that sits higher than last year’s maximum salary of $249,244.
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