The biggest storyline coming out of Monday night’s WNBA Draft wasn’t just that the Dallas Wings landed another No. 1 overall pick in Azzi Fudd. It was that Fudd, a now-former star at Connecticut, is dating the Wings’ superstar franchise player, Paige Bueckers, who also played at Connecticut.

“Pazzi” (as fans affectionately call the couple) has reunited.

And because it’s getting so much attention, it also opened the door for a lot of people — many of whom don’t really follow women’s basketball — to jump in with takes that don’t hold up.

The biggest one is that Dallas took Fudd No. 1 just because of her relationship with Bueckers.

That’s just not true.

Fudd was going to be a top pick no matter who had the No. 1 selection. You don’t put together a college career like she did — one of the most efficient scorers in UConn history, nearly 50/45/95 shooting splits, Final Four Most Outstanding Player — and suddenly become a fraud because of who you’re dating.

She also fits perfectly into the Wings’ roster based on their position needs.

Dallas already has Arike Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers running the offense, so what they really need around them is space. Fudd gives them exactly that. She’s one of the best off-ball shooters to come into the league in a long time.

After adding Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard in free agency, they didn’t need a big.

And sure, the chemistry with Bueckers is a bonus.

Now, all that said, we still need to talk about what happened at Fudd’s introductory press conference on Thursday. Because that’s when things got awkward.

A reporter asked Fudd a pretty reasonable question.

“Paige announced last year on TikTok that y’all were a couple,” the reporter said. “And I’m wondering if that’s still the case, and if so, if y’all have talked to other couples in the league about how they negotiate that dynamic as pro teammates?”

Before Fudd could answer, Wings PR stepped in.

“I understand why you have to ask that question, but we’re going to respectfully decline from commenting on our players’ personal lives,” the rep said.

Look, I understand the instinct there. Teams want to protect their players, and generally speaking, an athlete’s dating life isn’t something that needs to be dissected in a press conference.

But when your significant other is also your franchise player and starting backcourt partner, it’s a story.

And the question wasn’t intrusive or inappropriate, either. The reporter wasn’t fishing for gossip. He was asking about how two players might navigate being both teammates and partners at the highest level.

And by shutting it down immediately, the Wings actually made it a bigger deal than it needed to be.

If Fudd answers that question herself, gives a quick, polished response and pivots back to basketball, it probably doesn’t go anywhere. Address it once, and we can all move on.

Instead, the PR intervention became the story. And it’s all over our news feeds.

Realistically, Fudd could have handled that in about 10 seconds.

We’re both professionals. I’m really excited to share the court with Paige again. We won a national championship together in 2025. Let’s run it back here in Dallas.

Easy.

And that’s where the Wings might need to adjust their approach, because this isn’t something they’re going to be able to shield their players from forever.

This relationship is public. We all already know about it. Fudd and Bueckers attended Monday’s draft arm-in-arm, for goodness’ sake.

Of course, you don’t have to make it the focal point of every media session, but trying to completely shut it down isn’t realistic, either. Especially as the league continues to grow.

With the new CBA bringing in bigger salaries and more visibility, these players are stepping into a much larger spotlight. And with that spotlight comes more coverage, more interest, and yes, occasionally questions that might sometimes be a little uncomfortable.

That’s part of the deal.

The Wings don’t need to lean into this romantic relationship, and they don’t need to make it a sideshow. But letting their players handle those moments naturally would probably go a lot further than trying to shut them down entirely.

Because right now, that approach is making it look like a scandal when it’s not.

The daughter of a woman who remains missing in the Bahamas lashed out against her stepfather after arriving on Great Abaco Island Thursday.

Karli Aylesworth previously slammed her stepfather, Brian Hooker, who was the last person to see her mother, Lynette Hooker, alive on April 4. Brian said Lynette fell overboard from their dinghy around 7:30 p.m. as the pair motored toward their sailboat, which was anchored off Elbow Key.

Brian was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force April 8 and spent five days behind bars while police investigated Lynette’s disappearance. He was released Monday night without being charged with a crime.

On Tuesday morning, he told several news outlets he would remain in the island nation to search for Lynette but jetted off Wednesday for the United States, landing in Atlanta in mid-afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital.

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“I think it shows his character. He somehow lost my mom at sea and cries on camera saying he’ll never stop searching, then leaves the next day,” Aylesworth told the New York Post upon her arrival to the town of Marsh Harbour, close to where her mother went missing.

She deplaned at the tiny Leonard Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour with her boyfriend, Steve Hansen. They were reportedly met by a uniformed police officer before taking off in a taxi.

Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, said he was going to visit Hooker’s mother.

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“Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother’s grave illness,” Butler told NBC News. 

“He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time.”

After her mother’s disappearance, Aylesworth told Fox News Digital she was aware of “prior issues” with Brian’s behavior.

“There have been prior issues brought to my attention, which may be important for any thorough investigation. If this truly was an accident, I can understand and live with it,” Aylesworth said. “However, there needs to be an intensive review of the facts and circumstances of this tragic incident before that can be determined.”

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Aylesworth said she has been “privy to very little information,” adding her “sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance.”

She also told “Fox and Friends” that something “doesn’t add up” with her mother’s disappearance, and accused Brian of having a “history of domestic violence” and anger issues.

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Meanwhile, Bahamian police said their search for Lynette was coming to an end as early as Thursday after analyzing “tide, drift and wind” and deciding there was nowhere else to look. A U.S. Coast Guard investigation remains ongoing.

Brian has maintained he had nothing to do with Lynette’s disappearance and that it was purely an accident driven by windy conditions and choppy seas.

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Before he was jailed, he said he was “heartbroken” over Lynette’s disappearance.

“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote. 

“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus.”

Ana Kasparian said in a Friday episode of “The Young Turks” that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) showed “a devastating level of weakness” in past votes related to Israel, following a public exchange between the two on social media.

“I’m sick of AOC being incredibly weak on things that she shouldn’t be weak on,” Kasparian said. “Especially at a time when overwhelmingly Democratic voters are against what Israel is doing.”

Kasparian’s remarks came during a segment in which she walked through a recent interaction with Ocasio-Cortez on X, after responding critically to the congresswoman’s post about a disrupted plot targeting Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani.

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Kasparian said her response to Ocasio-Cortez was intentionally sharp and rooted in frustration over what she described as inconsistency on foreign policy votes.

“You should vote to send Israel more money for weapons,” Kasparian said, describing her reply as sarcastic. “Obviously I’m being sarcastic there.”

The segment then shifted to Ocasio-Cortez’s past voting record, which Kasparian argued reflects a pattern of backing away from stronger opposition under pressure.

“No one can force you to change your vote,” Kasparian said. “You changed your vote because you got a little bit of pressure and you didn’t like the pressure.”

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Kasparian also pointed to a more recent vote in which Ocasio-Cortez opposed an amendment to cut military aid to Israel, arguing that even defensive funding should not be supported.

“She voted against an amendment to cut military aid to Israel,” Kasparian said. “I don’t care. Money is fungible.”

Kasparian framed her criticism around what she described as a failure to follow through on the progressive expectations that helped elect Ocasio-Cortez.

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“The whole reason why she was elected in the first place was to transform the Democratic Party,” Kasparian said. “That is the opposite of what you got elected to do.”

She contrasted Ocasio-Cortez’s public messaging with her voting decisions in Congress.

“I love your fiery speeches. They’re great. They don’t do anything though,” Kasparian said.

“When push comes to shove and you have an opportunity to show us that you’re going to do something with your vote, in the very least, you cave.”

Kasparian concluded by reiterating that her criticism is rooted in disappointment rather than opposition, while maintaining that Ocasio-Cortez’s voting record speaks for itself.

“That was a big red flag,” she said. “A devastating sign of weakness.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for comment but did not immediately hear back.