Dallas Wings star guard Paige Bueckers has had a lot to celebrate in 2025.
The most recent cause for celebration is that Bueckers won the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year award, which was announced on September 16 and cemented by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert presenting Bueckers with the trophy while she was walking through The Jennifer Hudson Show’s “Spirit Tunnel”.
Despite her excellent individual season, Bueckers didn’t have many reasons to celebrate after Wings games, because the team went 10-34 on the season (which was tied with the Sky for the WNBA’s worst record).
However, Bueckers could still be riding a high from winning an NCAA national championship with the UConn Huskies back in April, which was a goal she had spent a rollercoaster five college seasons attempting to obtain.
And Bueckers’ successful 2025 wasn’t just owed to what she did on the basketball court. She also went public with her girlfriend and former Huskies teammate, Azzi Fudd. While there was speculation about the nature of their relationship during their time at UConn together, the couple clearly wanted to keep focused on the task at hand when they were both at school.
But once Bueckers went to the WNBA, she and Fudd clearly felt comfortable showing the world what their actual relationship was.
ESPN Analyst Drops Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd Relationship Comment
It’s interesting to see how sports media have reacted to Bueckers and Fudd going public with their relationship. It was certainly interesting to hear what ESPN analyst Elle Duncan said during a segment after talking about Bueckers’ Rookie of the Year win on Tuesday.
While signing off the program, Duncan was speaking of Bueckers and said, “Yeah. Also, just like cool, chill, perfect, wonderful, has a hot girlfriend. Can I be Paige when I grow up?”
This comment was posted on X by @PazziBueckets with the caption, “Paige Bueckers does indeed have a hot girlfriend”. The post already has nearly 100,000 views in less than two hours.
While most of the comments to this post agree with Duncan’s sentiment and are laughing about it, it probably wasn’t the most professional thing for a sports media personality to say, and the reaction would probably be a lot different if that were a male saying it rather than Duncan.
Regardless, there’s no reason to put a lid on the good vibes that Bueckers (and Fudd) have right now in the wake of Bueckers’ successful first WNBA season.
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