Latest news with #WNBARookieoftheYear
Time of India
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Inside Paige Bueckers' net worth, girlfriend reveal and road to WNBA glory
Image: Paige Bueckers is officially living her best life on and off the court. The reigning 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year is bringing style, swagger, and serious game to the Dallas Wings. But the buzz is that she's now confirmed a romantic relationship with none other than her former UConn teammate and fellow star guard, Azzi Fudd. That reveal came during All-Star Weekend in July 2025 on WAG Talk's orange-carpet quiz titled 'How well do you know your D‑1 girlfriend?' When asked to name who she was dating, Bueckers grinned and said, 'Azzi Fudd' — officially ending months of speculation sparked by viral hints like Fudd's phone case declaring 'Paige Bueckers' Girlfriend', matching necklaces, cozy selfies, and public outings together. Their connection goes way back—they first bonded at USA Basketball camps as teenagers, played side by side at UConn, and helped lead the Huskies to their 2025 national championship. With Azzi set to return to college in 2025–26 and eyeing the WNBA in 2026, the duo is shaping up to be one of women's basketball's most compelling 'power couples.' Born October 20, 2001, in Edina, Minnesota, Paige Madison Bueckers grew up in nearby St. Louis Park. . Her dad, Bob Bueckers, is a software engineer who coached her youth basketball teams. Her mom, Amy Fuller (Dettbarn), was a college-level cross‑country and track athlete and later became a dental-equipment specialist. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo As of mid‑2025, reports suggestPaige Bueckers is estimated to have a net worth of roughly $1.4 to $1.5 million. This isn't your typical pro-athlete payday — she built most of that fortune during college due to Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) deals that set new benchmarks for female athletes. Her NIL earnings are estimated at around $1.4 million in 2024–25 alone. Now that she's been drafted No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings, her four‑year rookie WNBA contract is worth about $348,000 total, starting at around $78,800 in 2025 and increasing modestly each year through 2028. Key achievements Won the 2021 Naismith College Player of the Year as a freshman, a first in NCAA history. Led UConn to another national championship in April 2025, ending a nine‑year title drought In 2025, she was unanimously voted AP first‑team All‑American and earned multiple top awards including the Wade Trophy, Nancy Lieberman Award, and Big East Player of the Year Averaged approximately 19.8 points, 4.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals per game, shooting around 54.5% from the field during her senior season Paige Bueckers is already a generational talent — on the court, off the court, and on your timeline. At just 23, she's smashing records, redefining what NIL can do for women's sports, and handling fame with an impressive mix of grace, honesty, and humor. She's building her legacy one trademark, one endorsement, and one clutch bucket at a time.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Injuries hit Team Clark, rookies prepare for the WNBA All-Star Game
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark is out but most of the WNBA's best are in for the league's All-Star Game. The Indiana Fever's injured superstar won't be able to play Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse when the team she drafted, Team Clark, faces Team Collier, picked by opposing captain Napheesa Collier. The events started Friday night with 3-point contest, headlined by event record-holder Sabrina Ionescu, and skills challenge. Clark had also been scheduled to compete in the 3-point contest. Here are a few things to note heading into the busy weekend. Injuries bog down Team Clark Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, will be sitting out after sustaining a groin injury in the Fever's game against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday. As the player who received the most fan votes and the captain of Team Clark, Clark said she is 'looking forward to helping (coach Sandy Brondello) coach our team to a win' in Thursday's announcement of her withdrawal. 'I will give the coaching hat to her as much as she wants, to be quite honest,' Brondello said. 'You've seen it with the Fever, she's been very active on the sideline when she wasn't playing.' Phoenix's Satou Sabally, a fellow starter on Team Clark, will also be sidelined. She announced Wednesday that she will be sitting out this weekend with an injured ankle. A'ja Wilson, a third Team Clark starter, said Friday afternoon that it's still to be determined if she will play in Saturday's game, after sustaining a wrist injury against the New York Liberty last week. The absence of two members of Team Clark led the league to appoint two replacements for the All-Star Game, bringing Washington's Brittney Sykes and Atlanta's Brionna Jones onto the roster Thursday afternoon. The Fever's Lexie Hull will be replacing Clark in the 3-point contest. Rookies on the roster It's a young All-Star Game this year, with rookies Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen making up the largest rookie contingent at the game since 2011. Citron and Iriafen are on Team Clark, and Bueckers is a starter for Team Collier. 'It's amazing,' Citron said. 'This rookie class is really talented, and I'm just happy that I'm one of the ones here. It's really cool.' Before the recent three-year string of rookie starters — Aliyah Boston in 2023, Clark in 2024 and now Bueckers — only seven rookies had ever been selected as All-Star starters in the game's 26-year history. A fun format This year's All-Star format is different from last year's, when the U.S. women's Olympic team played against Team WNBA. This time, each team is headed up by a captain (Clark and Collier) who drafted players from a pool of selected All-Stars. It's a return to a more traditional format after the 2024 Olympic year shook things up. 'It's a little more loose, has that fun element to it,' Team Collier coach Cheryl Reeve said of this year's game. 'It's obviously very player centric, and you just want to have fun and enjoy the experience. It's for the fans, so it's a fun year.' ___ AP WNBA:
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fever star Caitlin Clark to sit out of 3-point contest, WNBA All-Star Game after injury
Caitlin Clark is sitting out of the WNBA All-Star Game festivities. The Indiana Fever superstar will not participate in this weekend's 3-point contest or All-Star Game on her home court in Indianapolis after suffering a right groin injury this week. 'I am incredibly sad and disappointed,' Clark said in a statement Thursday. Clark sustained the injury in the final minute of Tuesday night's win over the Connecticut Sun, then was ruled out for Wednesday night's loss to the Liberty at Barclays Center. The 23-year-old sensation underwent imaging on Wednesday and is considered day-to-day, according to Fever coach Stephanie White. 'I have to rest my body,' Clark said Thursday. 'I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I'm looking forward to helping Sandy [Brondello] coach our team to a win.' Clark was replaced on the All-Star Game roster by Washington's Brittney Sykes. Wednesday's game was the 11th missed by Clark, who previously dealt with left quad and left groin injuries. Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, is averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, but her production has waned of late. She shot just 34% in four games after returning from her first groin injury. Clark was set to be a captain for one of the All-Star teams after receiving a record 1,293,526 fan votes. She was one of three Fever players selected for the All-Star Game, along with guard Kelsey Mitchell and forward Aliyah Boston. White had said it would be up to Clark and her team to decide whether she would participate in any All-Star events. 'It's a big deal for us to have All-Star [weekend] in Indianapolis, and of course with Caitlin being a focal point of all of that,' White said Wednesday. 'As the coach of the Indiana Fever, it's not a bigger deal than our long-term season, but it's also part of the fun.' The Fever open the second half of the season on Tuesday with another game against the Liberty at Barclays Center.
Newsweek
6 days ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
Caitlin Clark Makes Major WNBA All-Star Game Announcement
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When it was announced that Indianapolis, Indiana was hosting the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, fans were likely thrilled to be able to watch hometown star Caitlin Clark play on her home turf. However, that isn't going to happen despite the Indiana Fever guard being named a captain for the All-Star Game opposite Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier. Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, has battled a series of injuries that have limited her to playing in just 13 of Indiana's 23 games this season. Her latest injury will, unfortunately, keep her from participating in the 3-point contest and All-Star Game this weekend, as announced by Clark. More Basketball: Los Angeles Lakers Get Concerning Luka Doncic Update Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever drives to the basket against Jacy Sheldon #4 of the Connecticut Sun during the first half at the TD Garden on July 15, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever drives to the basket against Jacy Sheldon #4 of the Connecticut Sun during the first half at the TD Garden on July 15, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts."I'm so excited for Indy to host WNBA All-Star this weekend," Clark said in a statement via the Fever social media accounts. "I want to thank the Indianapolis Host Committee and all of the people that have put endless work in over the past year to put this event together. I know this will be the best All-Star yet. "I am incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can't participate in the 3-Point Contest or the All-Star Game. I have to rest my body. I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I'm looking forward to helping Sandy coach our team to a win. Can't wait to see you all out there!" a message from Caitlin Clark ❤️ — Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) July 17, 2025 More Basketball: Shaquille O'Neal Threatens Former NFL Star Over Angel Reese Clark suffered a right groin injury earlier this week in the team's 85-77 win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday. The incident happened in the final minute of the fourth quarter as Clark pulled up gingerly after firing a pass to teammate Kelsey Mitchell under the basket. The Iowa alum limped to the Fever bench, where she sat and watched the final 40 seconds of the game with a towel over her head with a look of mourning. The Fever listed Clark as questionable for Wednesday's 98-77 loss to the New York Liberty, but she ultimately did not play, and it appears likely the team could shut her down for some time after the All-Star break. Indiana resumes the second half of its schedule on Tuesday, July 22, in another tough matchup against the defending WNBA champion Liberty. This is the fourth injury Clark has suffered this season. She dealt with a left groin injury that kept her out from June 24 until July 9, a quadriceps injury that sidelined her from May 24 through June 14, and she had a hand injury that held out during the preseason. Indiana is 4-6 this season with Clark out of the lineup.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sophie Cunningham Takes Blatant Elbow to Head in Heated Fever-Sun Game
Sophie Cunningham Takes Blatant Elbow to Head in Heated Fever-Sun Game originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The last time the Indiana Fever played the Connecticut Sun, Sophie Cunningham was ejected in the dying moments of the game after being assessed a Flagrant foul 2 on Jacy Sheldon. Cunningham appeared to have retaliated on behalf of Caitlin Clark, who got poked in the eye by Sheldon earlier in the game. Advertisement There was no love lost between Cunningham and the Sun on Tuesday as the two teams faced off again. At one point in the fourth quarter, Cunningham hit the deck after taking a blatant elbow to the head courtesy of Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Cunningham took the hit after getting caught up between two Connecticut players. Thankfully, Nelson-Ododa's elbow did not make direct contact with Cunningham's head. It was more of her arm hitting the side/back of Cunningham's head. The Fever guard shrugged it off and quickly got up after the hit. She immediately approached the referee to complain about the incident, which the game officials decided to overlook. Advertisement This was just one of the contentious moments during the fiery affair. In the third quarter, Fever star Aliyah Boston also hit the deck after former WNBA MVP Tina Charles took a swing at her while they were fighting for position down low. Clark was also involved in a heated moment with a game official in the second half. The reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year had to be held back after taking exception to what a referee said. As for the game, it was the Fever who came out on top again in this one. After a tightly contested affair, Indiana was able to secure an 85-77 victory to improve to 12-10 on the season. Related: Caitlin Clark Strongly Denies Rumor: 'That Was a Lie' Related: Congratulations Pouring In For Fever Star Sophie Cunningham Related: Caitlin Clark Reveals Honest Opinion on Boston Celtics: 'You Could Hate Them...' This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
