Latest news with #Bueckers'
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Paige Bueckers 2025 WNBA ROY prop bets and current odds
Paige Bueckers 2025 WNBA ROY prop bets and current odds Bookmakers have listed the Dallas Wings' Paige Bueckers at -500 to bring home the WNBA Rookie of the Year award for the 2025 season. For Bueckers' updated numbers and to stay on top of changing odds, check out the article below. Bueckers is scoring 14.6 points per game this season, while adding 4.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists (sixth in league). She is committing 2.2 turnovers per game, and defensively is averaging 0.6 blocks and 1.8 steals. Paige Bueckers futures odds WNBA odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Wednesday at 5:13 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub. ROY Odds: -500 (1st in WNBA, Bet $500 to win $100) -500 (1st in WNBA, Bet $500 to win $100) MVP Odds: +15000 (12th in WNBA, Bet $100 to win $15000) Bueckers' next game Matchup: Dallas Wings at Chicago Sky Dallas Wings at Chicago Sky Game Day: May 29, 2025 May 29, 2025 Game Time: 8 p.m. ET 8 p.m. ET TV Channel: Amazon Prime Video, The U, KFAA Amazon Prime Video, The U, KFAA Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo (regional restrictions may apply) Watch this game on Fubo Live Stream: Watch this game on Amazon Prime Sign up for Fubo to watch WNBA games live! Paige Bueckers stats
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How Paige Bueckers' stylist prepared the No.1 WNBA Draft pick for her big moment
Paige Bueckers was a lock to go No. 1 in the 2025 WNBA Draft — and as one of the most high-profile prospects in recent memory, all eyes would be on her when the moment arrived. Naturally, she needed a look that matched the occasion she'd been dreaming of since first picking up a basketball. Enter stylist and fashion designer Brittany Hampton, who delivered two standout fits for Bueckers' big night. Advertisement On the latest episode of 'No Offseason,' Zena Keita sat down with Hampton to talk about the creative process behind Bueckers' draft-day fashion, and what makes her off-court style just as distinct as her game on the court. Watch the full interview below. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the 'No Offseason' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Keita: I want to talk a little bit more about the WNBA Draft. That was a moment, as I mentioned earlier, that was watched more this year than other drafts of 'bigger leagues' or the male leagues. There's also this theme between the Met Gala and the WNBA Draft, which is about suits on women. You talked about power, tailoring and how important the fit of things is, and you've said in some of your other interviews that when you put clothes on athletes, you do have to mind the tailoring. But what I loved about Paige's looks — and I say 'looks' because she did a change — was just how feminine and masculine they were, and there was this androgynous energy throughout her look and her vibe. You've talked about Paige being swaggy before, others will even call it rizz. Hampton: The young kids call it rizz nowadays (laughs) … Keita: Exactly (laughs). So how did you tap into that? Knowing that she's already this swaggy person, and she's got this style about her already in a basketball aspect, how did you pull out the swag she has on the court into these looks? Hampton: I challenge her, I definitely do (laughs), and I talk to people a lot about the challenges that we have. But she believes in me, which she tells me a lot. When she says it, I'm like, I don't know if this is another challenge that I'm supposed to kind of play on. But with that being said, I feel like I do my part in finding out what she envisions first. So when it came down to the WNBA Draft, which we all know she was projected as going No. 1 overall, we knew that she wanted to embody an opulence that was, in her mind, rhinestone. She wanted literally cascades of rhinestones and pearls, and she wanted that moment that was going to be like, I want to be the star, but I don't want to do too much. And she's very much (an) I-don't-need-to-be-an-over-the-top type of person. Advertisement So I was like, 'Don't worry, girl, I got you. Because my job is to turn you into a pop star.' That's the job, and that's going to be my moment to be able to be like, I know what you're capable of. And that was through every single detail, from her hair to her smoky eye to putting extensions in her hair, even though Paige was like, 'I don't want extensions in my hair, I don't have time for that.' No one even noticed that she definitely ripped them out by the time the after-party happened. Keita: That's crazy because I was thinking her hair looked a little thinner than it was on the orange carpet. But that's hilarious because it was definitely less full. Hampton: But even in those moments, hair is a representation of who you are, and that speaks power, along with being in a power suit like she was. I also got to team up with Coach for this, so Coach designed her first look, which was the look on the orange carpet. And Coach is obviously now in partnership with the WNBA, so we're excited to be a part of it. But they took their time to allow me to come in and design a suit for Paige as she was going into the championship. So we only had about a week to do this, and so when it came down to fabrications, she had to trust me. She had to know that I was going to nail it, from the fit of it to everything that we talked about. She liked the oversized kind of baggy moment, but she still wanted it to feel cool. So I was like, 'OK, I think I have a moment that's really going to kill it.' And for Coach to sit there and be like, OK, we can get this embellished plaid that's going to have (countless) Swarovski crystals on it just showed they knew exactly what they were going to be able to do, and they executed it. And honestly, I kept telling her all day, 'You look like Paris Jackson.' And she was like, 'Who's Paris Jackson?' Keita: Oh no. She didn't know? Advertisement Hampton: I know. (laughs) … But she really did give off those vibes. Keita: Girl, we're old now. (Laughs) Hampton: I know I had to pull it back (laughs). She was able to reference her as the actress, not Michael Jackson's daughter. But I felt it; that's the energy that we need. Every single detail of it. She picked her nail color. I was like, 'I think we should do your nails. I think you should do something fun.' She did the cat eyes, a smoky kind of grey nail. We included the jewelry, the Kay Jewels. So from Coach to Kay Jewels to making sure that every single moment was her, and also represented what she could be and that character that she wanted to be in that moment. She just sold it. She owns that cool confidence about herself that I truly believe makes every little girl feel like there's a little bit of them in her, and that's who the essence of Paige is. The pulled-back hair, slick hair that just wants to go to the game and play, she's also edgy and that's her. But then when she gets dolled up, she is a whole other girl. You can listen to full episodes of No Offseason for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Photo of Paige Bueckers: Cindy Ord / Getty Images)
Time Magazine
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Paige Bueckers Takes It to the Next Level
In early April, three days after winning a national title for the University of Connecticut Huskies and closing out one of the most decorated careers in college-basketball history, Paige Bueckers is chilling out in a dressing room at The Tonight Show, where she's scheduled to make a cameo with the championship trophy. Host Jimmy Fallon pops by, assuring her this is the 'first of many' appearances. Captain Kirk Douglas, guitarist for house band the Roots, offers his congratulations as Bueckers saunters down the hallway in her college jersey and shorts to tape a bit. 'This is the last time I'll ever wear the UConn uniform,' she says, not entirely ruefully. She then puts on a rhinestone-adorned flannel shirt and baggy camo pants and appears on the stage to screams of approval. Bueckers (pronounced Beck -ers) is beaming when she returns backstage, having climbed the stairs through the audience, letting a lucky few tap the hefty hardware. 'It was a little workout,' she says. 'More than I've had the last couple of days.' As much as any sports star on earth, Bueckers, 23, has earned her break from the athletic grind. The past few days have been a whirlwind: a celebration in a Tampa hotel after UConn's walloping of South Carolina, the 2024 defending champions, in the title game, then back in Storrs, Conn., for a homecoming rally, followed by a Mary J. Blige concert in Hartford. Bueckers' Fallon stop is one of a number of appearances in New York City, after which she'll make a quick trip back to Storrs for a parade and then return to New York to officially become a pro. Her selection by the Dallas Wings as the first overall pick will surprise no one but come with another round of fanfare. Exhaustion, it turns out, is the price of a dream come true. Bueckers joined UConn nearly five years ago, already a sports celebrity thanks to high school exploits elevated by the likes of TikTok and Overtime, a media company that specializes in showcasing highlights of teenage ballers. Her standout first season, in which she became the first freshman to be named college player of the year, and the NCAA's decision that summer to finally allow athletes to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness (NIL) only expanded her reach. Companies like Nike, Uber, and Gatorade signed her to sponsorship deals (she's the first Nike NIL athlete with her own player-edition sneaker). In 2024 she became an equity partner in Unrivaled, the startup 3-on-3 league founded by former UConn stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier that debuted during the current WNBA offseason, and she will play next season for more than $350,000, exceeding what she'll make in the WNBA over her first four seasons. Before even suiting up for a single WNBA game, Bueckers, nicknamed Paige Buckets, has helped propel the explosive growth and popularity of women's basketball. But that only captures the high notes. Those who follow the women's game know the cinematic narrative of Bueckers' story: the freshman sensation who was sidelined by injuries only to come back to reclaim her glory. Bueckers entered the NCAA the same year as such superstars as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but had to sit out a chunk of her sophomore year as well as the entirety of what was supposed to be her junior year. So as her peers went pro, driving up WNBA viewership and excitement, Bueckers took advantage of her remaining eligibility and stayed at UConn, where this past college season centered on her quest to finally win a title. It is, after all, practically a birthright at a school that had won 11 championships since 1995 and boasts such legends as Sue Bird, Diana Tauras i, and Maya Moore among its alums. Had the Huskies lost, Bueckers would have gone down in history as the first UConn all-time great to fall short of the ultimate prize. 'I don't know if a player has felt more pressure to validate a collegiate career with a championship than Paige has,' says Wings executive vice president and general manager Curt Miller, Bueckers' new boss. 'How she navigated that and thrived through that was really, really special to witness.' Now Bueckers will exit one pressure cooker and enter another, with minimal rest. The WNBA schedule punishes incoming rookies, especially those like Bueckers who make it to the last day of the NCAA tournament. Celebrate your championship, do media and appearances, get drafted, do more media and appearances, almost instantly report to training camp. Expectations have soared in Big D: Wings ticket prices skyrocketed after Bueckers' selection. In this booming era for the WNBA, Bueckers' rookie campaign—along with other intrigue, like defending WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson's attempt to return the championship trophy to Las Vegas, and Clark's sophomore year—will be among the biggest storylines of the season, which tips on May 16. Bueckers delivered something last year's WNBA Rookie of the Year, Clark, couldn't: a college championship. So can she not only transform the Wings into a playoff team—as Clark did for the Indiana Fever in '24—but also push Dallas closer to a title? This isn't the WNBA of old, unspooling under the radar. All eyes are on Paige Buckets. Next woman up. Bueckers, who hails from Hopkins, Minn., was an athletic tomboy. 'There were some times where I would get made fun of because I dressed like a boy, or I only played with the boys. I didn't play with stereotypical girlie things,' she says. 'Sometimes it would bother me. But it never bothered me to a point where I wanted to change.' She tried other sports, like track and softball, as a kid. 'She wouldn't play volleyball because she wasn't going to wear those tight tights,' says her dad Bob, a software developer. Basketball, however, was an early favorite. When she was 6, Bob took his daughter to a Minnesota Lynx–Los Angeles Sparks game: Candace Parker was a rookie for the Sparks and would go on to win both Rookie of the Year and league MVP that 2008 season. 'When I get to the league, I want to be her teammate,' Bueckers told her dad. (So close. Parker retired right before last season.) After watching Bueckers play against older competition when she was in sixth grade, photojournalist Gary Knox sent out a tweet comparing her to Taurasi. 'Remember the name: Paige Bueckers,' wrote Knox, whose 2013 missive went viral after UConn clinched its 2025 championship. 'Best 6th grade G [guard] I've ever seen.' 'Believe it or not, the footwork you see now, the poise, the tight ballhandling on a rope, is what I saw back then,' says Knox. The official Merriam-Webster X account replied to his tweet with a link to 'the definition of prescient.' Videographers began lining the sidelines of her high school and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) games, so they could record and cut her highlights. 'At the time, it was only guys in the NBA, guys in college, guys in high school who were getting mixtapes,' says Bueckers. Outlets like Courtside Films, Overtime, SLAM, and Ballislife invested heavily in Bueckers. 'They really placed a bet on me,' she says. In high school she was stunned to see her Instagram following move from the upper 9,000s to 10K. 'You see the K next to your name and you're just like, 'Whoa, what is even happening?'' says Bueckers. She now has 2.5 million followers. That's an M next to her name. Crowds would linger after games, to get autographs and take pictures with her. 'It'd be like, 'The bus is leaving, Paige, so you're going to have to get your own ride home,'' says Brian Cosgriff, Bueckers' coach at Hopkins High School. In 2020, Cosgriff walked into a Foot Locker in Miami, and a stranger recognized his Hopkins High polo shirt. 'Hey, that's where Paige Buckets went,' the guy said to him. Geno Auriemma, UConn's Hall of Fame women's basketball coach, first saw Bueckers before her ninth-grade season. 'I just thought, 'Man, she's so frail,'' says Auriemma. Cosgriff had nicknamed her Olive Oyl, after the rail-thin Popeye character. 'She's having trouble breathing,' says Auriemma. 'I'm like, 'What's the big deal about this kid?'' She was a bit under the weather; upon repeat viewing, he was plenty sold. 'There isn't a shot she doesn't think she can make,' he says. 'There's not an opinion she doesn't think she can have. This kid's just a walking definition of confidence.' Bueckers committed to UConn after her junior year of high school. While she scored 20 points per game as a freshman and broke the school's record for assists in a freshman season, Auriemma thought she was being too selfless. Given her efficiency—she consistently shot north of 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range in college, which is incredible for a lead guard—he had a point. 'I said, 'You know, you're torturing me,'' he says. 'Let me give you some words that would never come out of a men's basketball coach's mouth to any of their players. Never uttered. 'Yo, dude, you gotta shoot more.'' Auriemma compares Bueckers to Dennis the Menace, a rascally young comic-strip character who debuted in the 1950s and a reference lost on Bueckers' generation. 'You know, charming, cute kid, means well, but just cannot help themselves,' he says. 'They have to do something on the court, off the court, say something to let you know that there's some mischief lurking in there.' Bueckers would take a defensive risk that would backfire, then go out and make a bunch of shots to make up for it. UConn reached the Final Four in Bueckers' first year but lost to Arizona in the semis. That summer of 2021, during her acceptance speech for Best Female College Athlete at the ESPY Awards, Bueckers went out of her way to shine a light on Black women 'who don't get the media coverage they deserve.' Bob and Bueckers' mom, dental-equipment specialist Amy Fuller, divorced when she was 3, and Bueckers has a Black half -brother, who's 12. Black women also had a big influence on her growing up. Bueckers believes Black women remain undercovered. 'It's still an issue, every single day,' she says. 'There's not ever equal coverage.' While her on-court accomplishments speak for themselves, she thinks she has an advantage in the endorsement world. 'There's white privilege every single day that I see,' she says. 'I feel like I've worked extremely hard, blessed by God. But I do think there's more opportunities for me. I feel like even just marketability, people tend to favor white people, white males, white women. I think it should be equal opportunity. I feel like there is privilege to what I have, and to what all white people have. I recognize that, I want to counteract that with the way I go about my business.' Bueckers missed nearly three months of her sophomore season because of a knee injury but came back before the NCAA tournament to help UConn reach the championship game, where the Huskies lost to South Carolina. In retrospect, Bueckers says rushing back from that injury did more harm than good. 'I was just so dead set on returning, and I don't think my body was necessarily ready for that.' She spent that summer in Storrs, lifting weights and eating as much as she could to build up mass. Then, during a pickup game in August 2022, she tore her ACL in the same knee she'd hurt as a sophomore. Bueckers recalls the four days before surgery as a low point. 'I was just in a really bad place,' she says. 'It was almost like I was having an out-of-body experience, to where I didn't believe it was happening to me. It was straight disbelief. Shock and hurt.' She would be out her whole junior season. Without Bueckers, UConn failed to make the Final Four for the first time since 2007, but it was during that season that she found a new role for herself: giving motivational talks during games that earned her the moniker Coach P. 'Something that was so incredible for me to see was how she handled her rehab process,' says UConn teammate and close friend Azzi Fudd. 'She definitely did get down, but she never let anyone see that outside of a select few, in her own space. In public with the team, at the gym, she was always upbeat, making sure everyone else was good.' Bueckers, meanwhile, brought the same ferocity to her recovery that she brings to her game. 'I had the mindset of, every single day conquered will be a day closer to me playing basketball,' says Bueckers. She returned for the 2023–2024 season, which ended in crushing disappointment: a loss in the national semifinals to Iowa and Clark that was decided on a controversial foul call. 'I'm still sick about that game,' says Bueckers. 'The weeks after it, I just felt so disappointed, frustrated with how it ended. But then, like always, the motivation piece kicks in, where you don't ever want to feel that feeling again.' Bueckers started working with a sports psychologist last fall. 'In the offseason, I let voices get in my head, where I need to be this aggressive, selfish player,' she says. 'That was never going to work for me, that was never going to work for the team.' Three losses before the final stretch of this season—at Notre Dame and at home to USC in December, and at Tennessee in February—tested her. 'I wasn't the best leader at the beginning,' she says. 'I still made excuses, still tried to find reasons why I didn't do something.' Auriemma challenged her to change that behavior and be an even more vocal presence. 'We got more of a sense of urgency,' says sophomore UConn guard KK Arnold. 'She always had her speeches before practice. And during practice we were always engaged, always paying attention, making sure we're doing the little things that we're supposed to do.' Between the Tennessee loss and the national-championship matchup, UConn won 15 straight games by an average margin of 32.1 points. Bueckers' chase for that elusive title was the chatter of March Madness. But during the tournament, Auriemma downplayed that narrative. 'I walked in and said, 'Hey guys, anybody know the phrase win one for the Gipper?'' says Auriemma. This not being 1940, he explained the basics. 'I don't believe in that crap,' he told them. 'I said, 'This isn't about a crusade to land one for Paige. This is about trying to do something that's really, really hard to do.' And I said, 'Paige, you don't owe anybody anything. You've already given all the people here at Connecticut more than they bargained for. Way more.'' Still, the night before the April 6 title game, Bueckers started crying while talking to her sports psychologist. 'I just wanted to win it so bad,' she says. They discussed redirecting her anxiety toward winning each possession, to distract from the end goal: bringing the trophy back to UConn, which last won a championship in 2016. The team's 82-59 victory the next day validated all the effort. 'For her to battle through everything and come back stronger than ever,' says Arnold, 'and be as big a leader as she was, it just makes it 10 times better.' After WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert called her name as the No. 1 draft pick on April 14, Bueckers kept putting her hand over her heart. She did so after hugging her parents, Fudd, and Auriemma, and while watching Wings fans in Arlington, Texas, celebrate her selection. 'You're just, like, touching your heart,' ESPN's Holly Rowe noted. So in an elevator on the way to a flood of interviews with outlets like New York magazine, Today, CBS Sports, and Vogue, I ask Bueckers about that gesture. Turns out some nervous perspiration had frayed the adhesive holding her Louis Vuitton blazer in place, and she feared revealing too much in front of 1.25 million viewers. 'I didn't feel as trusting in the tape as when the night first started,' she says with a laugh. 'I did not want a wardrobe malfunction, that's for sure.' A league escort worked the phone to secure some double-sided tape, pronto. Before the draft, Bueckers and her fellow soon-to-be pros walked the WNBA orange carpet. It was about 40 feet long, though a WNBA official said the league would have needed 100 feet to accommodate all the outlets requesting space. As Bueckers zipped around throughout the evening, she did her best to accommodate fans' requests. 'I'm never washing my hands again,' a young girl said, jumping up and down after a shake from Bueckers. A boy stood frozen as he witnessed Bueckers descending an escalator. 'Oh my God, Paige Bueckers,' he said. 'Can I get a picture?' Bueckers stopped for the snapshot. Nike threw her a draft-night celebration, where some 150 of her friends and family danced late into the night. It was there, she tells me at a New York City restaurant a few days later, that it sank in: the UConn chapter of her career is over. 'This has been one of the greatest two weeks of my life in terms of happiness and joy, but also, I'll just be sitting in my room and start crying,' says Bueckers. 'It's tears of happiness, you're so extremely grateful that it even happened. But you're obviously sad that it's ending.' After going 10 days without touching a basketball, Bueckers would have to ramp up her workouts in preparation for the WNBA campaign. 'Paige is going to have to make the adjustment,' says Miller. 'The speed of the game, the rules of the game, the physicality, is all different. The veterans aren't going to take it easy on the rookie. Paige is going to feel her rookie moment at some point. She will have to navigate the comparisons to the adjustment that Caitlin had. We're all mindful and aware, but we're going to be very supportive that this is Paige's journey, and no one else's journey.' Bueckers takes those comparisons in stride. 'That's what the media cares about,' she says. 'That's what everybody who watches basketball cares about. I used to be bothered by it. But I've done so much work on myself and my approach. The ability to not run a race in comparison, to run my own race and worry about that. Caitlin's a phenomenal player. We're also completely different players.' Pitting the two most recent No. 1 draft picks against each other, Bueckers admits, 'is good for the game. At the end of the day, I don't think either of us really cares about it, because we're just trying to be the best versions of ourselves.' She's ready for the North Texas heat. 'I want to give everything I have to the organization, to the city,' says Bueckers. 'I know Dallas is a sports city. I'm walking in there wanting to be a great leader, a great teammate, wanting to be a winner at all levels, wearing that jersey and representing that city with pride and a passion and joy for the game of basketball. I want to give to that community. I want to be invested in it. We're all looking to do something special.' That will all come soon enough. For now, Bueckers, clad in a national-championship sweatshirt, just wants to eat a double cheeseburger with her friends, who are waiting at a nearby table. As the sun sets on her championship celebration, she'll steal a few last moments. Then Buckets will go back to work.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dallas Wings vs. Las Vegas Aces: How to watch Paige Bueckers' first game of the WNBA preseason
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability subject to change. The Dallas Wings will play the Las Vegas Aces in their first game of the 2025 WNBA preseason. Paige Buckers will make her debut in tonight's game, will you be watching? () UConn basketball phenom Paige Bueckers has had a spring season for the record books. Just a week after finishing her college career with an NCAA championship title in April, she became the WNBA's No. 1 draft pick, finding a home with the Dallas Wings. The Wings will play their first preseason game tonight (Friday, May 2) and Bueckers' debut on the court will be one of four nationally televised preseason games this weekend. The Wings will play the Las Vegas Aces tonight in a game hosted at Purcell Pavilion at Notre Dame University. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. ET. Tonight's game is one of 15 preseason games that will be available to watch over the next two weeks; most of this year's preseason games will be available via WNBA League Pass which is offering a free preview period for the duration of the preseason via the WNBA App. Here's how you can watch every single game of the preseason, including Bueckers' debut, Caitlin Clark's second season, and the rest of the action on the court during the 2025 WNBA season. How to watch the Dallas Wings vs. Las Vegas Aces: Dates: May 2, 2025 Advertisement Time: 7 p.m. ET TV channel: ION Streaming: WNBA League Pass, Fubo, DirecTV, Sling and more What channel will the Wings vs. Aces preseason game be on? The Wings vs. Aces preseason game will be broadcast on ION. Where to watch the Wings vs. Aces without cable: You can find ION on streaming platforms like Fubo, Sling and DirecTV. Tonight's game is also airing on WNBA League Pass, and will be available to watch for free thanks to a special preseason preview available via the WNBA App. Watch WNBA preseason games for free WNBA League Pass WNBA League Pass is streaming 14 out of 15 of this year's WNBA preseason games, all for free if you sign in through the WNBA App. With WNBA League Pass, you can stream live out-of-market WNBA games (certain national exclusions and local blackouts apply), get access to full length and condensed replays of every game, rewatch hundreds of past classic games and use the platform's live game DVR. WNBA League Pass costs $35 for the entire season, but you can also buy a monthly pass for $12.99. Try free at WNBA 2025 WNBA preseason schedule: There are 15 WNBA preseason games this month, the schedule is as follows (all times ET): May 2 Dallas Wings vs. Las Vegas Aces, 7 p.m. (ION, NBA League Pass) Advertisement Brazil National Team vs. Chicago Sky, 9 p.m. (ION, NBA League Pass) May 3 Washington Mystics vs. Indiana Fever, 1 p.m. (NBA TV, NBA League Pass) May 4 Brazil National Team vs. Indiana Fever, 4 p.m. (ESPN) Connecticut Sun vs. Seattle Storm, 6 p.m. (NBA League Pass) May 6 Minnesota Lynx vs. Chicago Sky, 7 p.m. (NBA League Pass) Los Angeles Sparks vs. Golden State Valkyries, 10 p.m. (NBA League Pass) Phoenix Mercury vs. Las Vegas Aces, 10 p.m. (NBA League Pass) May 7 Atlanta Dream vs. Washington Mystics, 11:30 a.m. (NBA League Pass) May 9 Connecticut Sun vs. New York Liberty, 7 p.m. (NBA League Pass) May 10 Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream, 3 p.m. (NBA League Pass) Advertisement Toyota Antelopes vs. Dallas Wings, 8 p.m. (NBA League Pass) Chicago Sky vs. Minnesota Lynx, 8 p.m. (NBA League Pass) May 11 Golden State Valkyries vs. Phoenix Mercury, 6 p.m. (NBA League Pass) May 12 Toyota Antelopes vs. New York Liberty, 10 p.m. (NBA League Pass) More ways to watch the WNBA preseason: Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing. Yahoo Streaming Guides: Best streaming services | Best live TV streaming services | Best streaming services for sports | Best streaming deals Yahoo Streaming Reviews: Amazon Prime Video review | Apple TV+ review | DirecTV Stream review | Disney Plus review | Fubo TV review | Hulu review | Hulu + Live TV review | Max Streaming review | Paramount Plus review | Peacock Review | Philo Review | Sling TV review
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Renaming a city for a rookie? Why one Minnesota town says Paige Bueckers is worth it
Fans of UConn guard Paige Bueckers cheer for her during practice at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Hopkins, Minnesota, is making a bold and heartfelt gesture as the city prepares to honor its most famous hometown hero, Paige Bueckers. On May 16, the city will officially rename itself Paige Bueckers , Minnesota for the day in celebration of her professional debut with the Dallas Wings . This symbolic move, announced by the Hopkins City Council on April 15, coincides with Bueckers' first regular season game in the WNBA, where she will face off against the Minnesota Lynx . Paige Bueckers is no stranger to the people of Hopkins. From her early days as the face of Hopkins High School basketball, where she led her team to the 2019 state championship, to becoming the heart of UConn's women's basketball program, Bueckers has always remained deeply connected to her roots. At the city council meeting where the renaming was proposed, Councilmember Aaron Kuznia shared a personal memory of Bueckers' time at Hopkins, reflecting on her dedication to her fans. In 2020, after a state semifinal game, Bueckers could have easily left with the team to celebrate the win, but she chose to stay and sign autographs for over 200 young fans. Kuznia recalled, 'There were NBA players there at that game, it was a big deal. I remember seeing the athletes leaving the locker room and some of the other ones saying, 'Hey, we're going to Davanni's to celebrate our victory tonight.' Paige said, 'I'll catch up with you.' There were over 200 kids standing in that line, and she could have left with the team well before that and just went to Davanni's. I just think that speaks to her character.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like India: Jewelry On Sale For Half Price (See Price List) Luxury Jewelry | search ads Undo Though the renaming is purely honorary and no babies born on May 16 won't be officially given the name Paige Bueckers, it aligns with a larger initiative to make Hopkins a "home base" for women's sports fans and create an ongoing celebration of Bueckers' professional journey. Laila Imihy, Hopkins' special projects manager, initially proposed a simple resolution to congratulate Bueckers after her national championship win with UConn. However, the idea quickly grew into something more significant after city manager Mike Mornson suggested going bigger to honor the hometown hero. Imihy, a lifelong women's basketball fan and season ticket holder for the Minnesota Lynx, said, "I think people are really excited. Our business community is awesome, and they are usually pretty game for fun ideas like this." The city plans to involve local businesses to promote the WNBA season opener and engage the community. Imihy emphasized the importance of including local businesses in the festivities, encouraging them to come up with creative ways to celebrate the occasion. "We don't want it to just be all focused on just the game that night. We have bookstores in town, we have coffee shops, there's all kinds of businesses, so we're really trying to encourage people to come up with some creative ideas to be involved." Beyond her basketball skills, Bueckers has remained a strong presence in her community. In 2023, she opened a free grocery store at Hopkins West Junior High School in partnership with Chegg and Goodr. She also worked with StockX to revitalize the basketball court at her elementary school in 2022. Additionally, her player edition Nike GT Hustle 3 sneakers released in December featured both the 612 area code (for Minneapolis) and Storrs' 860 on the tongue, symbolizing her connection to both her hometown and her UConn roots. As the city renames itself for Paige Bueckers, another layer of excitement is building. The Minnesota Lynx, the state's beloved WNBA team, will face off against Bueckers' Dallas Wings on May 16 in her debut game, and again in Minneapolis on May 21. While many in Minnesota have long hoped to see Bueckers play for the Lynx, especially considering her admiration for UConn legend Maya Moore, Imihy believes Hopkins residents will be torn between supporting their local hero and their home state's team. 'I think people will have a hard time in Minnesota choosing who to root for, but you win either way,' Imihy joked. 'A lot of what I see, especially on social media, is people saying she's going to be a Lynx one day, she will be a Lynx player someday, so I think that would be the best outcome.' For now, Hopkins is focused on celebrating Paige Bueckers' remarkable journey and giving her the recognition she truly deserves. The city's renaming serves as a tribute to one of its own, showing just how much her legacy means to the community that raised her. Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India , including match schedules , team squads , points table and IPL live score for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Don't miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap .
