Don't let the Dallas Wings' record fool you: Paige Bueckers' rookie season is phenomenal

New York Times

5 hours ago

The Dallas Wings have been mostly off the radar to start the 2025 WNBA season, after a massive offseason overhaul left them short of their expectations in the win column.
But the lack of overall team success has obscured an otherwise impressive campaign from Paige Bueckers. The No. 1 draft pick is quietly having one of the best rookie seasons in league history. The offensive creation, ease in the half court and tough shot-making that defined Bueckers' UConn career have all quickly translated to the pro level. Her averages of 17.7 points and 5.8 assists are both in the top 15 league-wide.
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'Everybody knows Paige is elite,' All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale said of her teammate. 'Being a point guard in this league is already tough, but being a rookie point guard is even tougher, and I think she's been handling the pressure really well and just leading our team really well.'
As was the case in college for Bueckers, it starts with the midrange. She is supremely confident and smooth at beating defenders to her spots at the elbows, creating space with a jab and elevating for the jumper. Bueckers has been devastatingly effective in that zone; defenders know where she wants to go, and they still can't stop her. The average WNBA player takes 10 percent of her shots between 10 and 16 feet — Bueckers has attempted 31.4 percent of her field goals from the midrange and made 58.2 percent, making her the highest-volume midrange scorer in the league.
Since defenses are forced to collapse to the free-throw line when Bueckers has the ball, it opens up the wings for Bueckers to kick out to shooters. Nearly half of Bueckers' assists in the half court (44.2 percent) are for 3-pointers, and Dallas guards can drive off of closeouts if the contest comes. Bueckers is an equal-opportunity distributor; although she ranks 10th in the WNBA in total assists, no individual assist combination ranks in the top 25 in the league. She has double-digit assists to three of her teammates (Ogunbowale, Maddy Siegrist and DiJonai Carrington) and has assisted five of her teammates on at least three 3s this season.
About the only flaw in Bueckers' offensive game has been her own 3-point shooting. She is making 30.8 percent of her triples, below the league average of 33.1. Threes aren't a huge part of Bueckers' shot profile, but by subsisting on mostly 2-pointers, her efficiency, which was a hallmark of her collegiate production, is closer to average than excellent.
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When Bueckers is connecting from long range — she was a 42 percent 3-point shooter at UConn — there isn't much that can be done. Her best game to date came against the Phoenix Mercury when she canned five triples in a 35-point, six-rebound, four-assist outing, becoming the first rookie since A'ja Wilson to score at least 35 on 65-plus percent shooting. That game also produced Bueckers' best highlight of the season, when she Eurostepped past Lexi Held for an off-balance finger roll.
Paige Bueckers 35 points on 19 shots last night. This bucket was nice.
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— Steph Noh (@stephnoh.bsky.social) June 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Even in defeat, Bueckers earned high praise from Mercury All-Star Alyssa Thomas. '(Bueckers) is a hooper,' Thomas said. 'She just controls the game so well. The sky's the limit for her.'
Like most rookies, Bueckers' defense lags behind her offense, but that doesn't mean it isn't impactful. She is top-20 in the WNBA in blocks and steals, even as she toes the line of what constitutes a foul as a pro. The roster construction in Dallas means Bueckers has to be on the ball more often than in help, and navigating screens has been a learning experience. Although the Wings largely have been unsuccessful defensively, Bueckers isn't a liability, and the defense gets 7.5 points per 100 worse with her off the court.
Since Bueckers' return from her concussion and subsequent illness, Dallas has strung together more competent performances. The Wings are 3-2 in their last five games, both losses coming by single digits in the final minute. Executing in crunch time is the next frontier for Bueckers, as she is converting 22.2 percent of her field-goal attempts in clutch situations (the final minutes when the score is within five points). Her game-tying jumper to force overtime against the Washington Mystics was a rare exception, but even that was canceled out by a missed layup in the extra session that would have given Dallas a lead.
Nevertheless, it's hard to quibble too much with a player who is leading her team in points and assists, and poised to join a group of 15 players in WNBA history who have averaged at least 15 points and five assists per game during the regular season. Bueckers would be the second rookie to do so, joining Caitlin Clark.
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Perhaps it's the shadow cast by last year's Rookie of the Year that has dimmed Bueckers' present accomplishments. A year ago, Bueckers' statistics would have been historic; now, she's merely following a pattern of first-year excellence, and even falling a little short of the bar Clark set.
Maybe the current generation of college stars will continue to adjust to the WNBA at a rapid pace and produce at All-Star levels early in their careers. Or maybe Bueckers, like Clark before her, is a special talent who should be recognized as such, a relative rarity even in a star-studded era.