Paige Bueckers' Hometown to Change Its Name for May 16 in Honor of Star's WNBA Debut
Timothy Rapp
Apr 19, 2025
Hopkins, MN—the hometown of Paige Bueckers—is very proud of the top overall pick in this year's WNBA draft for the Dallas Wings.
The city has voted to celebrate "Paige Bueckers Day" and rename itself after the former UConn star for one day on May 16, which coincides with her WNBA debut.
Hopkins city council also unanimously voted to rename itself "Paige Bueckers, MN" in honor of the hometown star 👀 pic.twitter.com/2ODU4E00XA
Bueckers, 23, just led UConn to a national title, the culmination of a fantastic college career. In five years in Storrs she averaged 19.8 points, 4.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 4.7 rebounds per game, shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from three. She was a three-time Associated Press All-America selection and the AP Player of the Year in her freshman season.
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Final Four. A National Title. A victory parade. And now, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 #WNBADraft
That made her a no-brainer selection for Dallas at No. 1 overall, giving the city a new potential superstar to root for after the shocking trade of Luka Dončić by the Mavericks.
"Very early on, it was Paige and Paige only," general manager Curt Miller told reporters of the team's evaluation process. "She's such a special player — efficient, unselfish, and a proven winner. That's the kind of player who shifts a franchise's direction."
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The Wings will have a brand new look in 2025 after going just 9-31 last year, with the offseason addition of veterans like DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith, Tyasha Harris and Myisha Hines-Allen. The Wings also selected Aziaha James No. 12 overall. But Bueckers is immediately the new face of the franchise.
"It's not a rebuild—it's a build," she told reporters. "The vision they've shared with me is exciting, and I'm ready to give everything I have to this team and this city."
Her old hometown can't wait to see her begin that process.
Hailey Van Lith 'Can't Wait' to Play with Angel Reese, Reveals Sky Star's WNBA Advice
Zach Bachar
Apr 17, 2025
Hailey Van Lith was reunited with former college teammate Angel Reese when the Chicago Sky selected the TCU standout with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft.
Van Lith told reporters that she "can't wait" to play with Reese again at her introductory press conference on Thursday (h/t Yahoo Sports' Ian Casselberry).
"The WNBA provides a lot of spacing and we have a very unique roster," Van Lith said. "Any time I can play in space with talented bigs around me is when I’m able to do my job best. That will be more impactful than when we played together at LSU."
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She also revealed that the best advice Reese gave her upon entering the WNBA was "to be in shape."
Van Lith and Reese suited up for LSU together during the 2023-24 season. The Tigers finished the year with a 31-6 record, advancing to the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA women's tournament before falling to Iowa.
Reese was eventually selected by Chicago with the No. 7 overall pick in the ensuing draft, while Van Lith spent her final college season at TCU.
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She excelled as a member of the Horned Frogs, averaging a team-high 17.9 points and 5.4 assists to go along with 4.6 rebounds per game. Van Lith was also efficient inside the arc, shooting 52.2 percent on two-point field goals despite connecting on just 33.8 percent of her triples.
She'll look to make an immediate impact on a Sky team that showed promise in 2024 but ended the year with a mere 13-27 record. Reese was a bright spot for Chicago last season, averaging 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while earning an All-Star nod.
The Sky have been active throughout the offseason as they look to improve in 2025, acquiring two-time All-Star Ariel Atkins in a trade with the Washington Mystics.
As Van Lith enters her rookie season in the WNBA, she's looking forward to reuniting with Reese on the court.
Two of the WNBA's marquee events during All-Star weekend are going to have increased payouts this season.
The WNBPA (h/t The Athletic's Ben Pickman) announced on Thursday that the winners of the three-point contest and skills challenge will receive a combined total of $115,000 as part of a renewed partnership with Aflac to sponsor the events.
Individual payouts for the three-point contest ($60,000) and skills challenge ($55,000) are equivalent to what NBA players receive.
Pickman noted the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement only allocates $2,575 for the winners each event.
This will mark the second consecutive year that Aflac is the official sponsor of the skills challenge and three-point contest. The 2024 event paid a total of $110,000 to the winners, with $55,000 allocated for each challenge.
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Speaking to reporters at Sportico’s RISE: Women’s Sports in October, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson explained the process of bringing on a sponsor to increase the prize payout after the league contacted her about trying to help encourage players to participate in the events.
We finally have some insight into how the @aflac x @WNBA All-Star Weekend $110,000 prize pool came together🦆👀
Terri Carmichael Jackson, Executive Director of the @TheWNBPA, shares the story at our RISE event today.
Atlanta Dream star Allisha Gray won both the three-point contest and skills challenge at last year's All-Star event, giving her an extra $110,000. By comparison, her entire 2024 salary with the Dream was $185,000.
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The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement is a huge topic of discussion in the league right now. Players voted to opt out of the current deal in October, meaning it will now end on Oct. 31, 2025.
There is a threat of a lockout if the league and union can't agree to terms on a new CBA. The WNBA recently signed a new media rights deal that takes effect in 2026, with the league set to earn around $200 million annually under the deal.
The WNBA's current media rights deal pays the league around $60 million per season.
The 2025 WNBA season tips off with three games on May 16. This year's All-Star weekend will be held from July 18-19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu Talks WNBA Championship, Unrivaled and More in B/R Interview
Scott Polacek
Apr 17, 2025
Becoming a first-time champion means plenty of new experiences such as parades, celebrations and a bigger spotlight.
But Sabrina Ionescu is ready to attack her next new experience.
The experience of defending her crown.
"It makes you have to level up," the New York Liberty guard told Bleacher Report when discussing the target on the team's back heading into the 2025 WNBA season after winning the title. "Everything is super important, every decision you make, the way you approach training camp and practice.
"There's an understanding that everyone has to be on board. The season goes by really fast, and things can change in the blink of an eye. There's an understanding of what it takes to win, and now we know. We know what it takes to win. We also know what it takes to lose. So having that experience should really help us this year even though we know every team is gunning for us."
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New York is the favorite to take home the trophy once again after retaining its core of Breanna Stewart, Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones alongside key role players such as Leonie Fiebich and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.
Still, there will be plenty of challengers with the Minnesota Lynx eyeing another run to the WNBA Finals, the Las Vegas Aces adding Jewel Loyd and the Indiana Fever bolstering their roster around Caitlin Clark.
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"The competition continues to get better and better," Ionescu said. "I'm super excited. No matter what happens, I'm excited for this season knowing we're going to be better than we were last year."
Many of the league's biggest stars, including Ionescu, maintained that level of competition during the offseason by playing in the inaugural season of Unrivaled.
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Stewart and Napheesa Collier teamed up to co-found the new 3-on-3 league that gave players an alternative to playing overseas during the WNBA offseason. It also created more financial opportunities with players receiving equity in the league.
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While the Rose Basketball Club took home the championship and Ionescu's Phantom failed to qualify for the playoffs, she still found the experience of teaming up with Brittney Griner, Satou Sabally, Natasha Cloud and others rewarding while waiting for the WNBA to return.
"It's been amazing," she said of her experience with Unrivaled. "Any time you're able to compete against the top players in the league in the middle of our offseasons and work on ways to continue to get better will only help for the W season. That's super important and why I wanted to be a part of this league.
"Also, knowing it's the first of its kind and the first time we're doing something like this. Getting to be a part of it and helping it get off the ground and running is something that really excites me knowing it's going to create a lot of opportunities for players coming into the league to develop without having to go overseas."
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Playing in Unrivaled was part of a busy offseason for Ionescu.
In February, Nike announced she was "embarking on her first Asia tour" in an effort to "share her message of inspiration and strength with young hoopers and further introduce herself to the global basketball community."
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Over the course of a week in March, she traveled through Manila, Guangzhou and Hong Kong in a celebration of women's basketball while hosting youth basketball clinics, unveiling a new Nike Sabrina 2 collaboration, taking over a retail store and participating in various events.
"It's huge," Ionescu said when discussing her opportunity to expand the game to younger generations and around the globe. "Understanding the gravity to be able to continue to grow the game of basketball is something that really excites me.
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"I grew up watching Kobe go, Steph go, and knowing the excitement they created around basketball. For me, I'm really excited to push the game forward and create an opportunity for a lot of other people to go out there and have it be successful."
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Ionescu also partnered with Body Armor this offseason as part of the company's first-ever rebrand that will feature a new visual identity and packaging in stores by the end of April.
Part of that rebrand included partnering with the likes of Ionescu, Joe Burrow, Connor McDavid and CeeDee Lamb for a "Choose Better" campaign that encourages more thoughtful choices, including when it comes to hydration.
"It's been a blessing to partner with Body Armor throughout my professional career," the Liberty guard said. "Every year continues to get better. This campaign is really exciting to me because I choose better every single day and understand what it takes to be a professional athlete. I continue to push myself to make the best decisions to go out there and compete, understanding how every decision you make matters."
The "Choose Better" approach in particular was meaningful.
"This campaign resonates with me a lot," Ionescu said. "I understand all the choices I make off and on the court play a huge role in the success that I have and my ability to play and compete at the highest level. That starts with hydration and understanding what you put in is what you get out."
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She got a championship out of all her hard work during the 2024 campaign, which was the type of accomplishment the Liberty surely envisioned when they made her a franchise cornerstone as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2020 WNBA draft.
The Oregon product was an All-WNBA Second Team selection and All-Star in 2022 and 2023 and helped lead her team to the 2023 WNBA Finals, where it lost to the Aces. That meant there was plenty of pressure to reach the sport's mountaintop in 2024, and she delivered another All-Star and All-WNBA season while averaging 18.2 points, 6.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.
New York advanced to the Finals once again and faced Collier and the Lynx this time around in a back-and-forth series that will long be remembered.
Minnesota stormed back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to win Game 1, the Liberty cruised in Game 2 before Ionescu connected on a buzzer-beating three to win Game 3, and the Lynx responded with a Game 4 win to force a decisive contest.
Ionescu would probably like to forget her own individual performance in that Game 5 (1-of-19 shooting from the field and 1-of-10 from deep), but her team still prevailed in overtime after Stewart tied the game in the final seconds of regulation on the free-throw line.
The rest was history, and the Liberty celebrated with thousands of fans during a ticker tape parade through the "Canyon of Heroes" in New York City.
"The parade was the best part about winning," Ionescu said. "I've watched so many, I went to some being in the Bay Area with the Warriors. I remember being in high school and going to the parade and being able to be a fan and see the excitement of it.
"It's completely different being on the other end of it and knowing you're the one being celebrated. It was something I couldn't have even dreamed about seeing how many people were there in attendance and all the love we received as a team."
And now it's time to earn another celebration.
"We're gearing up toward next season and trying to win another championship," she said. "It'll be the hardest one knowing we have this target on our back. Having done it once, this one is going to be the hardest. That's a lofty goal that we're excited to strive to accomplish."
The path to that goal starts May 17 when Ionescu and the Liberty host the Aces in a season-opening showdown between title contenders.
Paige Bueckers headlined the second-most watched WNBA draft of all time.
An average of 1.25 million viewers tuned in to ESPN on Monday to see the Dallas Wings select Bueckers with the No. 1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft, per ESPN PR.
Viewership peaked at 1.46 million and marked the second-highest total in league history, according to ESPN.
The 2025 #WNBADraft on ESPN delivered the second most-viewed WNBA Draft ever, averaging 1.25M viewers👏
🏀 1.46M peak 🏀 Most-viewed program across ALL TV among M18-34, M18-49 & P18-34 🏀 Top cable program among M25-54, P18-49 & P25-54 pic.twitter.com/io5HdjpuSF
Two international stars earned top picks on Monday as Dominique Malonga went to the Seattle Storm at No. 2 and Justė Jocytė became the Golden State Valkyries' first-ever draft pick at No. 5.
Notre Dame's Sonia Citron and USC's Kiki Iriafen rounded out the top five by both going to the Washington Mystics.
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The 2024 WNBA draft set the current league record when an average of 2.45 million viewers watched the Indiana Fever use the top pick to draft Caitlin Clark shortly after she became the leading scorer in NCAA basketball history.
The Fever-led draft, which peaked at 3.09 million viewers, topped the previous record by 307 percent.
The third-most watched WNBA draft took place in 2004, when the Phoenix Mercury drafted future franchise legend Diana Taurasi.
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Like Taurasi, who led UConn to three straight national titles between 2002 and 2004, Bueckers capped off her college career by winning a championship with the Huskies.
The April 6 championship game between UConn and South Carolina averaged 8.5 million viewers and peaked at 9.9 million viewers, marking the third-largest audience since 2006, per the NCAA.
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The 2024 WNBA set multiple regular-season and playoff viewership records. The spike in interest surrounding the league extended to game attendance, where record numbers at Fever games led to Indiana being scheduled to play in larger arenas ahead of Clark's second WNBA season in 2025.
The Wings ranked 11th out of 12 WNBA teams in average attendance last season, per Across the Timeline. That's exactly where the Fever ranked in 2023 before adding Clark in 2024.
The WNBA could now be hoping to see similar attendance and viewership spikes in Dallas ahead of Bueckers' rookie season. The 2025 regular season is set to tip off on Friday, May 16.
Wings' Paige Bueckers Welcomed by Kyrie Irving in Video After No. 1 WNBA Draft Pick
Joseph Zucker
Apr 15, 2025
One basketball star welcomed another to North Texas following the 2025 WNBA draft.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving congratulated Paige Bueckers on being the No. 1 pick of the Dallas Wings. Irving told Bueckers he's "so happy that you're going to be right down the street" and that he sees a bright future ahead for the UConn playmaker:
The Wings didn't spring any last-minute surprises Monday night. They kept the top overall selection and used it on Bueckers, who was universally considered the best player available.
The 6'0" guard averaged 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals across her time with the Huskies. She also shot 53.1 percent from the floor and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.
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The expectations for Bueckers couldn't be much higher.
The Wings haven't had much consistency from year to year since moving to Dallas in 2016, and they've built a reputation for losing their brightest talents (Liz Cambage, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Satou Sabally). Between getting Bueckers and major infrastructural changes to come, a new era may lie ahead.
Team CEO Greg Bibb didn't downplay what Monday night represented.
"Days like today don't come very often," he said to Sportico's Eric Jackson. "It's an opportunity to have a transformative moment for our franchise for the next decade or better."
The timing of Bueckers' arrival couldn't be much better for Dallas basketball as a whole, either, with the city still stewing over the Luka Dončić trade. The anger from that move will linger for a long time, but having another generational star in the city should help.
Hailey Van Lith Praises Angel Reese After Being Drafted by Sky, Have Similar 'Mindset'
Andrew Peters
Apr 14, 2025
Hailey Van Lith is teaming up with her former teammate.
The Chicago Sky drafted the TCU star No. 11 in the WNBA Draft on Monday, meaning she'll join forces with Angel Reese, whom she spent a season playing alongside at LSU during the 2023-24 season.
After being selected by Chicago, Van Lith had high praise for Reese and expressed her excitement about being teammates once again:
"Angel has maintained contact with me this whole past year since she's been in the league and I transferred. I really appreciate her. We have a very mature relationship, a very mutual respect relationship, where we both have respect for each other's game and also the character and the person we are off the court. Mostly, I'm just excited to get to be around her again. I think we have a lot of similarities about how we carry ourselves and our mindset on what's important to us. And, you know, she's a dog, she turns up the intensity of everybody around her. I'm excited to be in that environment with her again, where she can pull more out of me than I think I have."
"She's a dog ... I'm excited to be in that environment with her again."
In their sole season together, Van Lith and Reese led the Tigers to a 31-5 record and an Elite Eight appearance. While it was a good year, the two left some to be desired, and they'll look for more success at the professional level.
The Sky are coming off a disappointing 13-27 season, but the future is looking bright with a young core in Chicago.
Sun's Aneesah Morrow Ready for Angel Reese Matchup After WNBA Draft, '2 Dogs Clashing'
Taylyn Hadley
Apr 14, 2025
LSU Tigers' Aneesah Morrow is ready for a matchup against former teammate Angel Reese after being drafted No. 7 overall by the Connecticut Sun.
"I'm looking forward to a matchup against Angel. That's my former teammate—love her to death—but I know there's gonna be two dogs clashing on the floor, trying to go up in there and get as many rebounds as we can," Morrow said after she was drafted on Monday.
The 6'1" forward began her college career at DePaul, where she set a career-high 13.8 rebounds per game as a freshman and 25.7 points per game as a sophomore. She finished her time with the Blue Demons shooting 46 percent from the field.
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Morrow played her final two seasons at LSU, overlapping with Reese—who went on to lead the WNBA in rebounds per game during her rookie season.
In her final year with the Lady Tigers, Morrow averaged a team-best 13.5 rebounds and 18.7 points per game, finishing with 485 total boards.
The season before Morrow arrived, Reese helped lead LSU to a national title, averaging 15.4 rebounds and 23 points per game with a total of 555 rebounds on the year.
The Connecticut Sun will face the Chicago Sky for the first time on June 15 at home, where fans will get to see Morrow and Reese go head-to-head for the first time in WNBA.
Paige Bueckers 'So Excited' About Joining Wings After Going No. 1 in 2025 WNBA Draft
Andrew Peters
Apr 14, 2025
Paige Bueckers has been projected to be the top pick in the WNBA Draft for months now, but the Dallas Wings made it official on Monday.
After being selected by the Wings, Bueckers sent a message to all the fans of her new team.
"Dallas, I'm so excited," Bueckers said. "Just a new city, new start, a fresh start. I'm excited, let's get it."
She also said she has high hopes for the future in Dallas.
"I know we're going to do great things," she said. "It's a fresh start and I think we're all ready to do something special. Just extremely grateful that they took the pick on me."
While Bueckers was a clear lock to go first overall coming into draft night, her journey to the WNBA hasn't been easy. She started her college career strong by winning Player of the Year honors as a freshman, living up to the lofty expectations she had when she joined UConn.
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She was thrown a major wrench when she suffered a torn ACL before her junior year, forcing her to miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season. But Bueckers ultimately came back stronger for her final two seasons and willed the Huskies to a national title in 2025.
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"Everybody's invested a lot in me and part of me wanted to give back to them and show them that I can be better and all their hard work helped me get to this stage," Bueckers said. "I didn't do it alone, it took a village. So, I'm extremely grateful to them."
The Wings struggled a year ago, going 9-31, but the poor season led to them getting Bueckers with the No. 1 pick. Now, Bueckers will try to help turn the franchise around starting her rookie year.
Paige Bueckers' Wings Contract Details After Going No. 1 in 2025 WNBA Draft
Joseph Zucker
Apr 14, 2025
With the Dallas Wings making it official and taking her first overall in the 2025 WNBA draft, UConn star Paige Bueckers became one of the biggest bargains in the league.
🚨 DALLAS WINGS SELECT PAIGE BUECKERS WITH THE NO. 1 PICK IN THE WNBA DRAFT 🚨
Fresh off a title, it's officially time for Paige's career in the W to start 🍿 pic.twitter.com/3u9a1rgLn0
Bueckers had one more year of college eligibility remaining, so some wondered whether she'd wait and make the jump to the WNBA at a time when the league will have a radically different financial climate.
The players intend to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, which means a new CBA should be in place for the 2026 season. Nobody knows the specifics, but the new CBA will at least reflect the significant increase the WNBA secured on its next media rights deal.
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Rookies in the 2026 class will be earning far more out of the gate than their 2025 peers. That fact wasn't enough to dissuade Bueckers from leaving UConn this spring.
Fans in North Texas rejoiced because of that.
Consistency from year to year has proven elusive for the Wings ever since the organization first relocated from Detroit to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2010. Head coach Latricia Trammell getting fired a year after taking the team to the WNBA semifinals in 2023 summed up the state of the franchise.
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Hiring Curt Miller as general manager was a step in the right direction. As both head coach and GM, Miller turned the Connecticut Sun into a perennial playoff contender and a two-time Finals runner-up.
And while Dallas lost two-time All-Star Satou Sabally, adding DiJonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith gives the roster a solid base. Finishing in the middle of the pack will be an improvement over losing 31 games.
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Like a lot of other teams, the Wings are basically in a holding pattern until the free-agency bonanza of 2026. A lot of veterans have lined their contracts up with the current CBA, so almost every star you can think of will hit the open market next offseason.
In Bueckers, Dallas will hope she's a cornerstone piece who can help attract proven talent, and having her on a rookie contract makes it easier to assemble a stacked squad.
