Paige Bueckers' Former Teammate Sends Message After Career Move
After winning the women's NCAA championship with Paige Bueckers at UConn roughly two months ago, Kaitlyn Chen dreamed of making it as a player in the WNBA.
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She was taken with the No. 30 overall pick in the third round of April's draft by the expansion Golden State Valkyries, but she was cut on May 14 just prior to the start of the regular season.
But her dream of playing pro basketball isn't necessarily over. Chen announced on X on Tuesday that she has joined 3XBA, a three-on-three women's FIBA pro basketball league that also focuses on the development of its players.
She let it be known that she will be taking part in Spokane Hoopfest as part of 3XBA later this month.
"Hey Hoopfest fans, this is Kaitlyn," she said. "I can't wait for 3XBA Spokane."
Chen grew up in the greater Los Angeles area, where she became the all-time leader in points, assists and rebounds at Flintridge Preparatory School. As a junior and senior, she was named the All-Area Player of the Year by Pasadena Star-News, a local media outlet in the San Gabriel Valley section of the Southland.
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She spent her first three seasons of college basketball at Princeton before transferring to UConn for the 2024-25 season. The 5-foot-9 guard was named the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2023 as a sophomore, when she averaged 16.2 points per game.
Connecticut Huskies guard Kaitlyn Chen (20) holds up a piece of the net after the national championship of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesKirby Lee-Imagn Images
With the Huskies, her offensive role diminished a bit, but she averaged 6.9 points and 3.4 assists a game and made 51.4% of her field-goal attempts.
Chen became the first Taiwanese woman to win an NCAA championship, and just weeks later, she was the first to be drafted into the WNBA and play in a WNBA preseason game.
Related: Indiana Fever Had Words After Snapping Three-Game Losing Streak
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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