In her rookie season with the Dallas Wings, Paige Bueckers has been asked to do it all: score at an elite level, create for teammates, defend top assignments, and lead a roster navigating through transition.
The No. 1 pick has answered each challenge, and with her résumé already stacked with historic milestones and league-wide recognition, the conversation has shifted to whether she belongs on an All-WNBA team in addition to being a strong favorite to win Rookie of the Year. For a player in her first professional season, that would be rare territory.
Head coach Chris Koclanes said Bueckers has already proven she belongs among the league’s top guards, pointing to the constant defensive attention she faces.
“She impacts winning and makes everybody on our team better,” Koclanes said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “And she’s getting everybody’s best look — not just from one defender but multiple defenders. You’ve seen all the clips lately of everyone’s game plan: throw two, three, four, five bodies at her. To be able to handle that, for anybody but especially as a rookie going through this gauntlet the first time, it just speaks volumes about the type of player she is.”
Paige Bueckers Has Produced a Historic Season
The numbers already place Bueckers in rare company. She is averaging 19.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, ranking fifth in scoring and 10th in assists across the WNBA. That production helped earn her a starting spot in the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, making her just the 10th rookie in league history to receive that honor. She finished sixth in overall fan votes, underscoring how quickly she has become one of the league’s most prominent players.
Since the break, her production has only sharpened. Bueckers is averaging 19.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals in 31.8 minutes per game. She is shooting 49.4 percent from the field, 31.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 93.9 percent from the free-throw line while committing just 1.7 turnovers.
Bueckers said her ability to sustain that level of efficiency isn’t just about her own shot-making. She credited the structure around her — from the screens that free her to the coaching staff’s trust in different roles — as well as the preparation she puts in daily.
“I think my teammates — setting me up, getting me open, setting really good screens for me, putting me in positions to succeed,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “The coaching staff is also putting me in positions to succeed. And then I just trust the work and try to make shots.”
Bueckers said one of the biggest adjustments has been learning how to slow herself down in the paint, especially when defenses try to speed her up with physicality and contact. She noted that patience — both in her footwork and decision-making — has been a major area of growth in her rookie season.
“At times I felt like I was sped up when I got to the paint, but knowing I can play off of two feet,” Bueckers explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Pump fakes. This is a very aggressive and physical league, so using that to my advantage in creating contact, initiating it, but also being smart — using my footwork and my head fakes, ball fakes to avoid some of that as well.”
Her numbers are underscored by history. She became the fastest rookie in WNBA history to reach 450 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists, accomplishing the feat in just 25 games. She broke Caitlin Clark’s previous mark of 27 games set in 2024. At the time, Bueckers was averaging 17.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists, showing her balance as both a scorer and a playmaker.
Diamond Miller, who joined Dallas in a midseason trade after facing Bueckers earlier in the year, said the numbers only confirm what she has witnessed up close. Miller sees Bueckers not only as a future MVP, but someone who is deserving of All-WNBA First-Team in her first season.
“Come on, I mean, I don’t know the statistics about everything, but she’s probably leading in most of them for this team,” Miller told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “She’s really a dynamic player. She’s probably going to be MVP one day in this league. She’s really talented. I think she deserves it — first team, too.”
Dallas Wings Star Displays Complete Skill Set
What makes Bueckers special goes far beyond the box score. Her production is undeniable, but what separates her is how seamlessly she blends scoring, playmaking, and defense into a complete package. She can punish defenses at all three levels as a scorer, create advantages for teammates with her vision, and anchor possessions on the other end by taking on top wing assignments.
Teammates say it’s the combination of that versatility, her basketball IQ, and her ability to raise the level of those around her that has defined her rookie season.
Haley Jones said it’s the little choices Bueckers makes — whether to shoot, pass, or defend the opposing team’s top perimeter player — that separate her from most rookies. Jones emphasized that the balance between trust and assertiveness is what stands out most when you play alongside her.
“I think that Paige is such a special player, not only because she can score in such variety — three levels, four, obviously she does all the little things — but I think she also does the right thing,” Jones explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “At the end of the game, she could take the shot, and a lot of times she passes. She has faith in us. I think just her basketball IQ and making every single person around her better is insane.”
Jones noted that Dallas’ recent injuries forced Bueckers to shoulder a heavier scoring load, but said what impressed her most was how seamlessly she balanced that with the less glamorous parts of the game for the betterment of the Wings. Even when defenses keyed in on her, Bueckers found ways to contribute — guarding top wing scorers, crashing the glass, and making disruptive plays on defense — all while becoming more aggressive as a scorer.
“Beyond her scoring, it’s her playmaking, her rebounding, her steals,” Jones emphasized to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Her defense isn’t talked about a lot, but typically, she’ll guard one of the best wing defenders on the other team. All these little things make her who she is. And then the last couple of weeks with a lot of injuries, she’s been even more aggressive.”
That aggressiveness is paired with a knack for solving defenses in real time. Opponents throw a constant mix of traps, switches, and top locks at her, but rather than being rattled, Bueckers quickly diagnoses the coverage and adjusts on the fly. What makes her unique is not just surviving those schemes but turning them into opportunities — manipulating rotations, creating mismatches, and setting up teammates for easy looks.
“She’s getting trapped almost every night and sees different coverages every night,” Jones detailed to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “After a possession or two, she’ll figure out how to beat it, so defenses keep switching it up on her. It just speaks to her IQ — being able to figure out what they’re doing, how she wants us to move around to help her. She’s always making the right read. If she’s getting trapped in the relay, she’s short rolling, skipping it. She makes a lot of hard passes. It’s her ability to work her way through everything the defense throws at her.”
Maddy Siegrist echoed that sentiment, saying Bueckers’ ability to process defenses so quickly stems from years of high-level experience. She explained that the lessons Bueckers carried from UConn — where she was the focal point of every scouting report — have translated smoothly into the WNBA, allowing her to recognize coverages and still make the right reads under pressure.
“She’s been seeing a little bit of everything all year long,” Siegrist told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Especially coming from college, she saw everything for four years, so it’s translated great. She just makes the right plays every single time.”
For Bueckers, the extra defensive attention hasn’t been something to shy away from — she’s treated it as an opening. Rather than forcing shots or getting frustrated, she’s used traps and double teams to create advantages elsewhere, turning pressure into a chance to get her teammates involved and punish defenses for overcommitting.
“Yeah, it’s been fun because it creates a lot of advantages for my teammates,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “If teams send two, three people to me, it ends up being like a four-on-three or a three-on-two out of the play and out of the action when teams send that many bodies at me. And then it’s just fun to play to my teammates and let them eat and let them cook. So really it’s been fun.”
For veteran forward Myisha Hines-Allen, that influence is most visible in the pick-and-roll, where Bueckers’ poise has grown steadily throughout the season. She said Bueckers has learned to read coverages and punish defenses without forcing plays, striking a balance that gives the Wings confidence in every possession.
“It’s her continually being aggressive,” Hines-Allen told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “In the pick-and-roll it’s about being effective and aggressive, not just settling for a jump shot or getting to the rim, but reading the defenses. Her aggression throughout the season, reading the defense, and taking shots she knows she can make — and we’re confident she can make them too — has been impressive. It’s her progression of reading the defense, being aggressive, and taking what the defense gives her.”
Hines-Allen said that while Bueckers’ scoring often grabs headlines, her defensive work is just as important — and often overlooked. She pointed to the details: the way Bueckers stays connected in pick-and-rolls, her length disrupting passing lanes, and her ability to contest shots even after being screened.
“Just the rear contest,” Hines-Allen told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “When we’re in pick-and-roll, knowing that she can continue to fight over and get in front of the ball and at least get a rear contest because she’s so long. She gets her hands on passes in the lanes too. Her size is impressive, but it’s also her IQ on the defensive side. She knows where to be, she’s in the right spots, and she can get her hands on a lot of balls. That’s impressive.”
The habits Bueckers has built, from her willingness to make the extra pass to the consistency of her defensive effort, have rippled through the Wings’ roster. Teammates say her balance of efficiency and unselfishness sets the tone for how Dallas plays.
“I think obviously we go as she goes, and the fact that she embraces those things makes everyone else embrace them as well,” Siegrist said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Just her efficiency and how much she believes in her teammates. She encourages everyone around her.”
Lessons from Paige Bueckers’ Historic 44-Point Game
When Bueckers erupted for 44 points against the Sparks, she tied Cynthia Cooper’s rookie scoring record and became the first WNBA player ever to score 40 or more while shooting at least 80 percent from the field. The performance was more than a hot shooting night — it was a showcase of her versatility.
Koclanes said that performance captured the essence of why Bueckers is such a nightmare for opposing coaches to scheme against. No matter what defensive coverage the Sparks tried — whether crowding her off the dribble, forcing her into mid-range looks, or switching length onto her — she had an answer. Her ability to punish defenses in so many different ways, while never shying away from physicality, showed exactly why game-planning for her often feels like choosing which type of damage you’re willing to live with.
“Teams are going to try to take certain things away, but with her, you can’t take everything away,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com “You can put her in ball screens to attack coverages, get her touches in the low post or pinch post, and use her as a screener. Credit to Paige for leaning into all that and not relenting when teams get physical and take away option A.”
That adaptability hasn’t just benefited Bueckers individually — it’s reshaped the way Dallas runs its offense. Koclanes noted that the Wings have become more deliberate about recognizing and exploiting mismatches, blending tempo with patience. By pushing the ball early to create space and then slowing down to identify the best matchup, Dallas has learned how to force defenses into rotations and counters, a shift that has made the entire group more difficult to guard.
“We talk a lot about playing fast but then slowing down,” Koclanes said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “We want to push up the floor, establish space, create early mismatches, and then slow down to identify them. Sometimes it’s as simple as diving bigger players to the rim against smaller defenders and forcing rotations. We’re also getting more comfortable with our counters. If a team is switching a ball screen, and we’re in a certain shape, we know what we like. When everyone is on the same page, it creates the counter. We’ve just been better at executing with all five connected.”
Earlier in the season, opponents quickly emphasized getting physical with Bueckers — top-locking her off the ball to deny catches, bumping her off her preferred spots, and trying to break Dallas’ rhythm. At times, those tactics stalled the Wings’ offense and forced them into rushed possessions. Koclanes said the group has since grown by treating that aggression as an opportunity rather than a setback. Instead of letting schemes stagnate their movement, Dallas has learned to flow into secondary actions, keep the ball moving, and create new advantages elsewhere — a sign of maturity that reflects both Bueckers’ adaptability and the team’s improved connectivity.
“There’s always a reaction to every action,” Koclanes explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I think we’ve just gotten better at reacting. With the top lock, we’re not letting it stagnate us. It’s either this or that, and we’ve had more fluidity. We’re also using teams’ aggression against them. If they disrupt one point of attack, we continue to move and screen to create advantages elsewhere.”
Paige Bueckers’ Leadership Goes Beyond the Box Score
For all the numbers and accolades that define Bueckers’ rookie season, her leadership may be the trait that most surprises those around her. The WNBA is rarely a place where first-year players set the tone in the locker room, yet teammates and coaches say she has carried herself like a veteran from the start. Her voice has been present in huddles, her example has set standards in practice, and her ability to connect with teammates has helped establish a foundation for the Wings’ future.
Veteran teammates say Bueckers’ leadership wasn’t something that gradually developed — it was evident from her very first days with the Wings. In a league where rookies are often listen more than lead, they were struck by how naturally her voice carried and how quickly she earned respect in the locker room.
“I think as soon as she came in here, she had her voice,” Hines-Allen told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “She knew what it took, and she knows what it takes to win, to be a leader. I was impressed with that because you don’t really see that with rookies. Normally it takes them a minute to get into their voice, but she did that right away. She set the tone right away. That’s what I was most impressed about.”
Jones said Bueckers’ leadership isn’t just about speaking up — it’s about knowing how to reach people. She pointed out that what separates Bueckers is her ability to read her teammates the same way she reads a defense, understanding when to push, when to encourage, and how to adjust her approach to bring out the best in everyone around her.
“She’s always kind of vocal in the back of everyone’s ear, but she’s really good at knowing how to get the best out of her teammates,” Jones said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Some people need this, some people need that. Some people you yell at, some people you need more of a one-on-one conversation. She’s done a really good job of cultivating relationships off the court so that on the court she’s able to get what she needs out of every single one of us.”
Siegrist added that Bueckers’ leadership hasn’t been static — it’s evolved with the season. She noted that while Bueckers immediately led by example, her confidence in speaking up has steadily grown as the year has gone on, making her voice an even more central part of the team’s identity.
“She definitely leads by example, but I feel like her voice has also come a long way since the beginning of the year,” Siegrist explained to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “It’s been great to see that.”
For Bueckers, leadership isn’t just about her own voice — it’s about the collective bond she and her teammates are building. She sees the culture they are establishing as the true measure of progress, believing that the relationships formed off the court are what allow the Wings to fight together on it.
“Just how well we get along together,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “I think the best teams who succeed and win championships are teams that want to fight and go to war with each other, and are essentially a family. To be able to really enjoy being around each other, enjoy coming to work — that’s the most exciting part, honestly.”
Hines-Allen said those connections aren’t limited to big moments or locker room speeches — they show up in the smallest gestures. From handshakes to quick check-ins, she pointed to the way Bueckers consistently invests in her teammates on and off the court, building trust that carries over when the pressure is highest.
“That just goes back to the type of person she is and what they knew they were drafting with the first overall pick — a true leader,” Hines-Allen said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “And when you’re a true leader, you have to communicate on and off the court and connect with your teammates. You see that from the beginning; she has handshakes with everyone. It doesn’t have to be something big, just enough to build those connections so people feel comfortable in the heat of the moment when you need to communicate. She’s a leader through and through. She wants to build those connections, continue to get better, and wants us to believe in ourselves too. That’s one thing I appreciate most about her.”
Voices From WNBA Legends
When a rookie earns praise, it usually comes from coaches or teammates. When it comes from the game’s legends — players whose names are etched into the league’s history — it carries a different weight. Bueckers has already drawn that level of respect. From Hall of Famers who helped shape the WNBA’s early years to icons who defined an era at her own position, the endorsements have underscored just how rare her debut season has been.
Cynthia Cooper, one of the WNBA’s original superstars and the driving force behind the Houston Comets dynasty, said what distinguishes Bueckers isn’t just her talent but her ability to deliver with consistency. For Cooper — a four-time champion who knows the demands of sustaining excellence — it’s the fact that Bueckers shows up night after night that sets her apart.
“I also love what Paige is doing. Paige Bueckers is just amazing, right? Yes, she just broke my record by one point, but I love to see it because I love the energy and the excitement that’s generated around what—not just women’s basketball, but around her specifically and her team, the Dallas Wings,” Cooper said.
For Cooper, the consistency is what truly matters. Having built her career on sustained dominance, she said greatness isn’t defined by a single breakout performance but by the ability to prepare, adjust, and deliver at the same level every night — qualities she already sees in Bueckers.
“Now, you can always tell who’s going to make a great pro,” Cooper said. “It’s by what they do off the court, what they do before they get to practice or the training sessions, mentally how she prepares herself. She’s never too high, never too low. She’s right there, even-keeled and just focused. She’s driven. She’s focused. And I think she’s going to have an amazing professional career.”
Sue Bird, widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards in basketball history, said Bueckers has already reached the rare level of players who are worth watching regardless of circumstance. For Bird, who spent two decades setting the standard for efficiency and leadership at the position, the highest compliment she could offer was that Bueckers is a player she would pay to see.
“I think the best compliment you can give a player, especially coming from someone like me who gets to go to WNBA games for free, is that I would actually pay to watch them play. And Paige is 100% in that category,” Bird said.
Bird also highlighted Bueckers’ 44-point eruption against Los Angeles as the kind of breakthrough moment that signals a young player’s arrival. For her, it wasn’t just about the scoring total — it was the efficiency, the stage, and the way Bueckers imposed her will on the game that marked her as someone already operating among the league’s elite.
“Now, if we do look at the numbers, she’s fifth in scoring, she’s 10th in assists, and she’s fifth in steals per game,” Bird said. “This makes her the only player in the league who’s in the top 10 in all of those categories. And that’s leaguewide, not just rookies. … Paige dropped 44 points. She did it on 17 for 21 shooting. And she pretty much locked up rookie of the year that night.”
Voices From Dallas Wings Opponents
Opponents around the WNBA have taken notice of how difficult it is to game-plan for Bueckers. Coaches talk about how she forces entire scouting reports to shift, because there isn’t one obvious way to take her out of a game. If teams trap her, she passes out of it. If they switch, she exploits mismatches. If they top-lock her off the ball, she counters with movement and footwork to free herself. Even veteran defenders have admitted that the level of attention she already commands is rare for a first-year player, a sign that her impact extends beyond numbers and into how teams prepare every night.
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said the difference between facing Bueckers early in the season and later in the year has been striking. She pointed out that the Wings rookie not only adjusted to defenses but also took on a heavier scoring burden as Dallas needed her to do more. For Reeve, the growth reflects how quickly Bueckers has embraced responsibility — a quality that usually takes years to develop.
“Point guard, I mean, she plays mostly off-ball, and they sort of figured that out with Paige,” Reeve said. “There are times when she initiates, but they really use her more off-ball. They’ve really navigated her best spaces well. Clearly, she likes to post up.”
Reeve said what stands out most is how Bueckers has evolved in the way she creates her offense. Early in the year, she often waited for the game to come to her. Now, she understands when the Wings need her to assert herself and find her own shots, even against top defenders. Reeve compared that shift to when Napheesa Collier had to grow into a heavier scoring role for Minnesota — a sign of a player learning that volume is sometimes as important as efficiency.
“She’s very much improved from the first time we saw her in terms of how she gets her scoring attempts,” Reeve said. “She learned how much the team needs her to take shots. It’s almost like Phee [Napheesa Collier] in 2023 when we were like, ‘You’re gonna have to take 20 shots and you gotta figure out how to get ’em off.’”
In the end, Reeve said what makes Bueckers so difficult to contain is the polish she has added to her one-on-one game. Where some young guards rely on a single move or straight-line speed, Bueckers has learned to string together fakes, counters, and changes of pace to manufacture clean looks. That ability to get to her preferred spots — even when defenses know exactly what’s coming — is what convinced Reeve she’s already operating at an advanced level.
“She’s gotten really shifty, getting defenders up and getting to her sweet spot,” Reeve emphasized. “It’s not just make one move, you stop her. She’s terrific in that space.”
Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase also emphasized how seriously her staff took the challenge of defending Bueckers after her 44-point outburst. The Valkyries held her to nine points on 3-of-12 shooting, snapping her chance at matching Candace Parker (32 games) and A’ja Wilson (33 games) for the longest double-digit scoring streak by a rookie in league history.
“We matched (Kaila Charles) up with her, because Paige just had a 44-point game,” Nakase said postgame. “We all watched it. We all saw her. She is an elite scorer in this league, rookie or no rookie, that’s impressive what she’s been doing.”
Nakase explained that the Valkyries’ defensive approach was less about one specific matchup and more about acknowledging the level of respect Bueckers already commands across the league. She said the staff treated her as the kind of player who could only be managed through collective effort — assigning their best individual defender while layering in team help behind her, knowing that anything less would risk another explosive performance.
“Just her ability to do the step back, the floaters, the deep threes, we knew it was going to be a team effort, so we matched her up with (Charles), but at the end of the day, too, it was team defense,” Nakase said. “Just credit to our whole team being locked in because she is not an easy coverage. She demands a lot of attention. So again, just credit to the team, especially without fouling is huge.”
Bueckers responded immediately. In the very next meeting on the road at Chase Center, she scored 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting with only two turnovers, as Dallas pushed Golden State to the wire on the night the Valkyries clinched their first postseason berth. It was another reminder that while opponents may slow her briefly, her ability to adjust and deliver under pressure is already elite.
Paige Bueckers’ Rookie Season With Staying Power
From setting the WNBA single-game rookie scoring record with 44 points to becoming the fastest rookie in league history to reach 450 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists, Bueckers has stacked historic milestones at a pace rarely seen in the league. What makes those achievements stand out is how she has combined them with consistency — blending efficiency, volume, and leadership in a way that few first-year players have ever managed.
Miller quickly saw Bueckers’ impact up close, said the numbers only confirm what she already knew from playing alongside her — that she’s an All-WNBA talent and a future MVP.
“She’s really a dynamic player,” Miller said to DallasHoopsJournal.com. “She deserves it.”
For Koclanes, the conclusion is straightforward. He said the constant defensive attention Bueckers attracts, and her ability to still elevate her Wings teammates through it, is proof of her place among the league’s elite, even in her first year in Dallas.
“She impacts winning and makes everybody better,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com.
That combination — historic production, peer recognition, and the respect of opponents — forms the foundation not only of a clear Rookie of the Year campaign but also of an All-WNBA résumé. In a season where expectations were already high, Bueckers has delivered something rarer: a debut that feels sustainable, the kind of year that signals she is building a career with staying power.
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