THE Dallas Wings earned the first overall pick 2025 WNBA Draft Lottery Sunday, franchise creation to add UConn superstar Paige Bueckers to his list next season.
Bueckers was eligible for the 2024 WNBA draft, but opted to stay for her fifth season at UConn after injuries spoiled her sophomore and junior years. She entered 2024-25 as the favorite to win National Player of the Year and immediately lived up to those expectations, averaging 21.3 points, four assists, 3.7 rebounds and three steals during the Huskies’ 3-0 start. Bueckers scored a season-high 27 points No. 2 UConn’s first ranked win over No. 14 North Carolina Friday, and she is one of two guards in the country averaging more than 20 points on a field goal percentage of 65 percent or better.
Bueckers, the consensus top prospect for 2025, is no stranger to being No. 1: She was the top-ranked recruit in the class of 2020 and already arrived at UConn a four-time gold medalist with the junior teams of USA Basketball. The star point guard made the transition to the college level with ease, becoming the first freshman named Naismith Player of the Year and leading the Huskies to a sixth straight Final Four appearance in 2020-21.
But after his stellar rookie campaign, Bueckers suffered a fractured tibial plateau and torn lateral meniscus in his left knee during a game against Notre Dame in December 2021, causing him to miss 19 games during his sophomore season. year. She underwent surgery and was cleared to return to play just before the start of the Big East tournament. Despite missing most of the season, the Bueckers once again propelled UConn to the Final Four and its first national championship appearance since 2016.
Bueckers suffered another heartbreak before her junior season, tearing her left ACL during a pickup game in August 2022. She was sidelined from the recovery process for the entire year, but the superstar made a triumphant return in 2023-2024. UConn’s roster has been plagued by injuries, with five players undergoing season-ending surgery between June and January, and the Huskies spent most of the year with just six rotation players. Bueckers played the majority of her minutes out of position as a forward, but she still averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals to lead the Huskies in a another miraculous run to the Final Four.
The Dallas Wings went 9-31 in 2024 to finish 11th in the league, missing the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2020. The team parted ways with head coach Latricia Trammel and general manager Gregg Bibb at the end of the season, and former head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun Curt Miller was hired on November 8 as the new general manager. The Wings are four-time All-Stars Arike Ogunbowalewho averaged 22.2 points and 5.1 assists in 2024, but the team is eyeing a potential rebuild with a two-time All-Star forward Satou Sabally and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard is expected to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason.
The Wings’ recent history with lottery draft picks has been mixed. Former Villanova star Maddy Siegristwho battled with Bueckers for years in the Big East, was selected No. 3 overall by Dallas in 2023 and looked poised for a breakout season in 2024 before a finger injury limited her for a long time. part of the year. The Wings also took former Husky Lou Lopez-Senechal just out of the lottery in this draft at No. 5, and she averaged less than five minutes in just 27 games in 2024. The final No. 1 pick 1 of Dallas, Texas forward Charli Collier in 2021. , appeared in 45 games over two years before being cut during training camp in 2023. She no longer played in the WNBA since.
Behind Dallas, the Los Angeles Sparks will pick at No. 2, the Chicago Sky at No. 3 and the Washington Mystics at No. 4. The WNBA draft will take place in April after the conclusion of the college season, but an official date has not yet been set. Bueckers and sixth-year senior Aubrey Griffin are both expected to declare for UConn’s 2025 draft. Star guard Azzi Fudd will also be old enough to declare, but the redshirt junior missed the 2023-24 season with a torn ACL and medial meniscus and has another year of college eligibility that she could choose to use.
