Azzi Fudd had a surprise reaction when asked about playing for the Minnesota Lynx originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
When her senior season as a Connecticut Husky tips off Tuesday night, Azzi Fudd will have a whole new set of expectations placed upon her as UConn begins its defense of the national championship.
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In her final NCAA season before she turns pro in 2026, Fudd — the Most Outstanding Player during last season’s Final Four — is looking to prove to the WNBA, and to herself, that she is a star-caliber guard that a franchise can build around.
Injuries have disrupted Fudd throughout her college career. The former Gatorade National Player of the Year played 42 games over her first three NCAA seasons as she dealt with foot and knee problems. But last season, Fudd led the Big East in 3-point percentage and scored 24 points in the national title game against South Carolina, helping the Huskies end an eight-year championship drought.
Fudd is relaxed about her WNBA future
Fudd has spent many summers at her grandparents’ lake house in Minnesota, which she described in a new ESPN profile as “one of (her) favorite places, ever.” And as it happens, Minnesota’s WNBA team may have a shot to select Fudd at the 2026 Draft next spring.
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The Lynx have a 25 percent chance to land the top overall pick after they acquired this first-round selection in a trade with the Chicago Sky last year. Owing to Chicago’s cumulative 23-61 record over the past two seasons, Minnesota is guaranteed a top-four pick — and a chance to add Fudd to an already championship-caliber roster.
But when ESPN’s Katie Barnes asked Fudd the possibility of playing in Minnesota, the 22-year-old artfully evaded the question, diverting Barnes’ attention back to a card game that the two of them were playing.
Fudd’s draft stock could rise or fall based on how her fifth and final NCAA season goes, but ESPN’s most recent mock draft has the Lynx selecting her with the second overall pick. Only time will tell how the ping pong balls fall at the draft lottery, which does not have an official date yet as the WNBA and the WNBPA continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.
