After a few days of awkward deflections and a viral PR shutdown, Paige Bueckers finally addressed the topic everyone has been dancing around — her romantic relationship with Azzi Fudd.
In an opening statement at Dallas Wings media day, Bueckers made it clear she wasn’t interested in turning her personal life into a running storyline.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year told reporters. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
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At the same time, Bueckers addressed the on-court concerns that have fueled a lot of the conversation since draft night.
“We’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court, and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” she said.
Bueckers also shut down the idea — pushed by plenty of armchair women’s basketball analysts — that Fudd’s draft position had anything to do with their relationship.
“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player, her resilience, her strength and her career-best year at UConn,” she said.
That last part, of course, echoes what anyone actually paying attention already knew. Fudd was one of the top prospects in this class regardless of where she landed, and the fit in Dallas just made the decision even easier.
THE WNBA’S WINGS CAN’T SHIELD PAIGE BUECKERS, AZZI FUDD FROM RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS FOREVER
But the bigger takeaway here is that Bueckers clearly wants to put a lid on this storyline, at least from a personal standpoint. She indicated she plans to address their relationship once, and that’s it.
Which, funny enough, is exactly how this could have been handled from the start.
You know, instead of that awkward PR intervention at Fudd’s introductory press conference — effectively blowing things way out of proportion — and days of unnecessary speculation and Internet chatter.
But hey, better late than never. The elephant in the room can go home now.
