NEW YORK — It’s rare for Paige Bueckers to feel rushed. But exceptions are made when dreams come true.
Bueckers didn’t have to wait long to hear her name called in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Ten minutes after the festivities officially began, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert voiced the most predictable, and anticipated, news of the evening: The Dallas Wings selected Bueckers as the No. 1 pick. Yet, Bueckers, a master at controlling pace on the floor, couldn’t slow the moment. Compared to what she imagined, she said the whole scene was “a lot faster than I thought.”
She rose from her table positioned in the center of the draft hall and shared her first hug as a professional basketball player with her former UConn teammate, Azzi Fudd. An embrace with her college coach, Geno Auriemma, came next. Then family. A sellout crowd of spectators, many of whom were wearing her jersey, rejoiced. A few of her other Huskies teammates cheered her on, and Bueckers became emotional discussing their impact on her.
It was clear that a franchise had been changed — quickly. Everything happens fast on draft night.
Nothing but gratitude from Paige Bueckers after hearing her name called No. 1 overall by the @DallasWings 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ISj4vR33OC
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 14, 2025
Bueckers has work to do in Dallas to help the Wings finish with their third winning season in 15 years, let alone win their first title since moving from Detroit to Tulsa in 2010 and eventually to Dallas in 2016. Through nine seasons in Dallas, the Wings have missed the playoffs four times and never advanced past the second round.
Yet Monday night was when new dreams were also created. “I know we’re gonna do great things,” Bueckers said. “It’s a fresh start, and I think we’re all ready to do something special.”
Bueckers described the task ahead not as a rebuild, but a “build from where we are.” She is joining a franchise looking to re-establish itself in the WNBA’s new era.
The Wings have a new coach, Chris Koclanes, and new general manager, Curt Miller. They are planning a move from Arlington to downtown Dallas in 2026, increasing their arena seating from around 6,000 to 9,000. A new practice facility is in the works, they’ve added more national partnerships than ever last season, and they announced a new local TV deal last month.
“Obviously, from a basketball perspective, she’s transformative,” Wings CEO and president Greg Bibb said. “Off the court, she will move the needle for us, and I think there’s this new era in the WNBA of players coming into the league that can actually make a true impact that you can see and feel, and she’ll do that for Dallas day one.”
Day 1 might have been Bueckers’ draft night, but it might as well have been when the Wings won the lottery in November. Just days after learning they had the top pick, the franchise sold out season tickets for the second consecutive season. Bibb said that “there was very little doubt as to who the No. 1 pick in the draft would be.” It was reminiscent of last season when the Indiana Fever selected former Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark.
“Very early on, it was Paige and Paige only,” Miller said. “She’s such a special player.”
He was clear, they were never going to deal the No. 1 pick.
More than 1,000 people gathered at the Wings’ home of College Park Center, about 1,500 miles from where Bueckers heard her name called in New York, to celebrate Bueckers’ pending arrival. Much like the scene in New York, fans wearing Bueckers Huskies T-shirts and UConn jerseys were scattered throughout. Any time Bueckers was shown on the Jumbotron, fans waved towels and broke out in cheers.
And that was even before she was even officially named to the franchise.
Almost immediately after her selection, Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale tweeted, “it’s time.” For weeks, Ogunbowale had been taking to social media to share her excitement about her new backcourt partner. Bueckers, who averaged 19.9 points and 4.6 assists per game last season at UConn, will make life infinitely easier on the four-time All-Star. Dallas has wing depth with 2024 Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington and sharp-shooter Ty Harris. The entire roster stands to benefit from Bueckers’ arrival.
“She makes everybody better,” Miller said.
kinda excited for draft.
GM @CurtMillerWBB’s reaction to winning the #1 Pick was everything 🤣 pic.twitter.com/dSLwsblrrJ
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) April 12, 2025
Bueckers attended last year’s WNBA Draft as a fan, watching as her former UConn teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl were selected. When those festivities opened, she was seated toward the back of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bueckers said she was there in a “supporting cast role.”
That might have been her last time ever playing second-fiddle.
A three-time All-American and former Naismith Player of the Year, Bueckers capped her historic college career with a national title just eight days before she was drafted. Since then, she’s appeared on daytime and late-night TV. She attended a championship parade on the eve of the draft. She grew accustomed to shuttling back and forth from Storrs, Conn., to New York City, producing an energy that only a top WNBA prospect can in mid-April.
“I’m running on great fumes, grateful fumes,” Bueckers said. “Wouldn’t trade it for anything, the life that I’m living, I’m extremely blessed.”
.@paigebueckers1 crashes Jimmy’s monologue to celebrate @UConnWBB’s March Madness National Championship win! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/2hlvHjX0Qr
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) April 10, 2025
Bueckers said as she transitions to her next stage, it helps that so many UConn greats have shown her a path. Not even five minutes after Bueckers’ name was called, a Diana Taurasi highlight package aired inside The Shed at Hudson Yards. Taurasi, like Bueckers, was a No. 1 pick when she was selected in 2004.
“She’s going to be a risk-taker, and you’re going to have to live with some of the risks, because most times they actually pay off,” Auriemma said on the ESPN telecast. “And that at the end of the day, just keep in mind, she wants to win as much as you do, and she’ll spend more time in the gym than you do.”
WNBA training camps begin in less than two weeks, and the Wings’ regular season opens May 16 against the Minnesota Lynx, last year’s finals runner-up. Bueckers will be ready. And Dallas fans will be ready for her. Less than 30 minutes after Bueckers learned of her new residence, a merchandise stand selling Bueckers Wings shirts and jerseys was already operational. A fan later unveiled a LEGO mural of her face.
An in-person embrace awaits her this week when Bueckers arrives in Texas. But Monday night was about taking in a surreal moment.
As a child, Bueckers wrote a letter that said, “Paige is 5 years old. Paige has blue eyes. Paige likes to basketball.”
“Like” has become love. Nerves became excitement. A college player became a pro.
“Bittersweet feeling knowing that my journey at UConn is over, but excited for the next one to begin,” Bueckers said. “We only think the best is ahead.”
— The Athletic’s Tyler Batiste contributed to this report.
(Photo of Paige Bueckers: Elsa / Getty Images)
