Former UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers has only gotten a taste of WNBA physicality less than two week into her first training camp with the Dallas Wings. Though she’s already feeling the challenge of battling professionals for the first time, the rookie guard is no stranger to competing against bigger and stronger players thanks to her experiences in college.
Bueckers spent most of 2023-24 playing out of position as a power forward after an unprecedented slew of injuries decimated the Huskies’ roster. The team had just six players in its regular rotation by the time it reached the postseason, and then-redshirt freshman Ice Brady was UConn’s only forward available behind All-American Aaliyah Edwards.
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Bueckers rose to the occasion averaging a career-high 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on top of 21.9 points, earning her the moniker “Paige Blockers”‘ from fans in addition to her classic “Buckets” nickname. Though that developed under less-than-ideal circumstances, Bueckers is taking pride in using that versatility as she settles in with the Wings, especially on the defensive end.
“Actually, it was relevant today when we were playing defense and we’re trying to get sides to the rim, and I don’t need to switch out,” Bueckers said with a grin during a WNBA season launch press conference via Zoom on Thursday.
“I can stay in there and guard the four, but it’s definitely a different level of physicality and grown women strength in the fours here than in the fours in college. It just adds another layer to competitiveness to make a point, that you want to prove that you can do it. So just wanting to get defensive stops and be able to guard one through five — probably not five, but we’ll get there.”
Bueckers was drafted No. 1 overall a week after leading UConn to the 2025 NCAA national championship and made her WNBA preseason debut for the Wings 18 days later against the Las Vegas Aces. The adversity faced during her UConn career helped prepare her mentally as well as physically for the whirlwind transition. She has emphasized staying present and taking each day as it comes throughout the start of camp, a mantra she also repeated often during her redshirt senior season on the way to the national title. She was open about working with a sports psychologist in 2024-25 and said she is continuing to take advantage of that support while she adapts to life in Dallas.
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How former UConn star Paige Bueckers fared in WNBA preseason debut with Dallas Wings
“I’m learning every single day, and it’s something that I’m going to adjust to and handle every single practice, every single game, so I’m leaning on the coaches, my teammates around me for guidance and help on how to handle it,” Bueckers said. “The organization has been very welcoming. They’ve done a great job of taking care of the players, taking care of me, of course. They have all the resources that you need to be successful, especially recovery is important going from season to season.
“Just having resources off the court as well, like Pilates and stuff that we can do, sports psych, so they have all the resources that you need. It’s been fun getting to know new people and build new relationships within within the organization.”
It’s been barely a month since Bueckers competed for the last time in a Huskies jersey, and the accolades from her final collegiate season are still continuing to roll in. On Tuesday she was named the 2025 Honda Award winner in women’s basketball, becoming the first UConn player to earn the honor since Breanna Stewart led the program to a fourth straight national title in 2016. The award makes her a finalist for the Honda Cup Collegiate Women’s Athlete of the Year, which a women’s basketball player has won for the last three consecutive seasons (Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in 2023 and 2024, South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston in 2022).
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Boston and Clark both went on to win WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and Bueckers is already a runway favorite to bring home the award in 2025.
Dallas missed the WNBA Playoffs in 2024 and finished the season with its worst record since 2020, so the team is hopeful that Bueckers’ experience competing in a championship culture with the Huskies will help spark a new era of success for the franchise.
“Obviously Paige is handling business,” Wings veteran Arike Ogunbowale said. “She’s one of the best players to come out of college, and she’ll have a great WNBA career, so it’s been fun these last couple of weeks playing with her, but I’m excited about the future.”
