The order for the 2026 WNBA Draft lottery was set on Sunday, bringing UConn women’s basketball star Azzi Fudd one step closer to learning where she’ll begin her professional career next summer.
For the second consecutive season, the Dallas Wings won the lottery and will get the chance to add another top pick next to UConn great Paige Bueckers, who went No. 1 overall in 2025. It will be just the fifth time in WNBA history that a team has picked first in back-to-back years.
Bueckers was a second-team All-WNBA selection and the Rookie of the Year, but the Wings struggled as a team and finished in last place with a 10-34 record in 2025. The franchise parted ways with coach Chris Koclanes after a single season and made a compelling hire for 2026 in longtime South Florida coach Jose Fernandez.
The No. 2 pick went to Minnesota Lynx, who landed in the lottery despite finishing first in the league last year thanks to a trade for the Chicago Sky’s pick that moved the Sky up in the 2025 draft. The Seattle Storm, who also made the playoffs in 2025, drew the No. 3 pick which they acquired via a trade in 2024 from the Los Angles Sparks. No. 4 went to the Washington Mystics, and the Sky got the No. 5 pick from the Connecticut Sun as part of the 2024 trade for Marina Mabrey.
With the game on the line, Azzi Fudd (31 points) delivered. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Fudd is all but guaranteed to be a lottery pick, and ESPN’s latest mock draft released Friday projected her to go fourth overall to the Washington Mystics. The redshirt senior is out to an impressive start in her final college season, averaging career highs in nearly every statistical category. She leads UConn in scoring with 20.4 points per game on top of three rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals. Fudd is also shooting 50% on 3-pointers averaging 7.6 attempts per game.
The Arlington, Virginia native would be playing for her hometown team in Washington, and she would join an elite young core that was established in 2025 when the team drafted guard Sonia Citron and forward Kiki Iriafen with the No. 3 and No. 4 picks respectively. Citron and Iriafen both earned All-Star selections as rookies and were named to the All-Rookie team. The Mystics also have 2025 No. 6 pick Georgia Amoore coming back after she suffered an ACL tear during training camp, and they hold two more first-round picks in the 2026 draft in addition to their lottery spot.
International standout Awa Fam, a 6-foot-4 forward from Spain, and 6-foot-7 UCLA center Lauren Betts are the most common names projected to go first overall ahead of Fudd. An elite post player is certainly a major need for the Wings, but if Fudd keeps up her current numbers and stays healthy all year with the Huskies, it could convince the team to consider reuniting UConn’s dynamic backcourt duo in the pros with the No. 1 pick. Fernandez was in attendance for the Huskies’ game against Ohio State on Nov. 16, and Wings general manager Curt Miller said he planned to be at UConn’s win over Michigan on Friday night but didn’t make it due to flight delays.
“I’ve already spent two weeks overseas, and we’re constantly at college games,” Miller said during a press conference Sunday. “We’re watching college games even when we’re not there in person, so the evaluation of this draft class is ongoing. Jose and I talk constantly about what that could potentially mean for us as we enter the 2026 season.”
The Wings currently have an All-Star shooting guard in Arike Ogunbowale, but the seven-year veteran is a free agent this offseason, so her future with the franchise is uncertain. Ogunbowale also had her worst year as pro in 2025 averaging a career-low 15.5 points per game shooting just 30.4% from 3-point range, and she grappled with a knee injury throughout the season that sidelined her for 11 games.
The WNBA will have one of its most tumultuous offseasons ever entering 2026 with almost every veteran player in the league hitting free agency as the current collective bargaining agreement expires. The league is also holding expansion drafts for two new franchises, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, so roster makeups could look dramatically different by the time the 2026 draft rolls around.
“We’re fortunate to have a younger team with more players under contract, but still after the expansion draft, after free agency, (that) will all play a part in the decision heading into the collegiate draft in April,” Miller said. “I think the great thing about this draft is a lot of optionality … It all starts with who’s going to be a great teammate. That culture is so important to us. We want to win in the locker room before we win on the court.”
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