Azzi Fudd Staying at UConn Has Big-Money Implications

UConn guard Azzi Fudd said Tuesday she will play another year in college and not declare for next month’s WNBA draft.

Fudd is following in the footsteps of her teammate Paige Bueckers. She arrived in Storrs, missed a season due to ACL injury, and announced her decision to stay for one more at UConn all one season after Bueckers did.

The decision makes basketball sense. Fudd spent last offseason rehabbing her torn ACL, and the quick turnaround from college to the WNBA would’ve meant a short offseason.

But staying another year at UConn also has huge financial implications for Fudd, both on the college and pro side.

Soon after the excitement of March Madness wraps, college sports could have another monumental moment. The final approval hearing for the House v. NCAA settlement is April 7, which could open revenue sharing to college athletes as soon as next season. Division I schools would be allowed to pay up to $20.5 million every year to all their athletes, and at a school like UConn where women’s basketball has excelled for decades, the payout for one of its star players could be handsome.

A year ago, when Caitlin Clark chose the WNBA over another year at Iowa, many pundits wondered whether she was giving up money she could’ve made from her popularity and NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals in college. But Fudd will likely get another college-centric revenue opportunity that wasn’t even available to Clark. She could continue with her NIL deals—which have included Curry Brand, DoorDash, Buick, and more during her time at UConn—and make thousands of dollars directly from her school.

Fudd is also executing sound financial planning for her entry into the WNBA. The league is currently in talks with its players’ association to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires after the 2025 season, and if the league and players are able to agree on a new deal, the influx of media-rights money—an 11-year, $2.2-billion deal kicks in next year—would presumably cause player salaries to skyrocket. Under the current CBA, the maximum rookie salary for next season is a 4-year deal paying $78,831 in the first year, and Fudd is not projected to be the No. 1 pick.

It’s unclear how the CBA will impact pre-2026 rookie contracts for players like Clark or Bueckers; players could seek raises for those currently under contract as part of a new labor deal. Nearly every WNBA veteran with the leverage to do so has negotiated a contract that expires after 2025, putting the 2025 and 2026 rookie classes in a unique position.

On top of the new media revenue, 2026 will also see the entrance of two new teams in Toronto and Portland. The expansion teams will raise the number of roster spots, which will help ease the cutthroat reality of professional women’s basketball where many draft picks and other skilled players can’t make it past training camp. The change will make it easier for rookies—even highly projected ones like Fudd—to secure both roster spots and playing time. (The flip side is that the money has to be spread among more players than ever before, but the explosion in media money is more than enough to outpace the additional roster spots.) 

In the meantime, Fudd and Bueckers still have a season to finish. On Saturday, No. 2 seed UConn will play No. 3 Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.