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Sue Bird Gushes Over 'Hard Launch' of Paige Bueckers Relationship

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jul 25, 2025 9:04 PM ET

It’s long been rumored, but only in the past month has it become quasi-official that Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers is in a relationship with her former teammate at Connecticut, Azzi Fudd. The two have been seen together more and more on social media, and were together, too, at the WNBA All-Star weekend.

Earlier this week, on the “Good Game With Sarah Spain” podcast, Fudd opened up about her relationship with Bueckers. She noted that it was Bueckers who is responsible for one of her nicknames, “The People’s Princess.”

When Spain asked about the nickname, Fudd said, “I think Paige made a comment about how I'm the princess because coach (Geno Auriemma) doesn't yell at me and somehow that morphed into people calling me ‘The People's Princess,’” Fudd said, via People.com. “Yeah, I'm not really sure. I know I'm not mad about it though.”

This week on their podcast, “A Touch More,” former WNBA and UConn star Sue Bird, along with girlfriend Megan Rapinoe, addressed the budding Fudd-Bueckers relationship. Like Bueckers, Fudd has dealt with injuries throughout her time in Storrs, but she was the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player in this year’s run to the national championship, after totaling 43 points in wins over UCLA and South Carolina.

Fudd could follow Bueckers as the WNBA’s No. 1 pick next year if she remains healthy and productive in 2025-26

Bird, for one, gobbled it up.

"Paige and Azzi have hard-launched their relationship. They have. They've been soft-launching us for a while now, there has been all kinds of speculation for like years now, but it is official: they are official. They are a couple. I'm assuming they have been, but here we are," Bird said. “They are adorable. So, congratulations to them.”

Bird quoted a social media commentator to compliment their UConn teammates for having kept the relationship under wraps last year.

Bird said: “’People I would trust with my life: The entire UConn team because they kept it a secret for so long. Two, that’s all. That’s all.’ And it’s so true. They in had those two, they had their backs.”

Bird added, “We love to see it.”

To which Rapinoe said, “Your gay moms love to see it.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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