When the 2025 WNBA Draft takes place in less than 10 days on April 14, UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers is expected to be the first name off the board. Similar to Caitlin Clark a year ago, Bueckers is a sure-fire No. 1 pick, and likely will be called when the Dallas Wings submit their pick to start the draft.
Before the draft, here is a closer look at how Bueckers has been evaluated by WNBA personnel and analysts.
Bueckers hails from Minnesota, where she spent her entire childhood. She started playing basketball by the age of five, and solidified herself as the best player in the country in high school, winning the Gatorade National Player of the Year and becoming a McDonald’s All-American, among other honors.
A five-star recruit and the No. 1 player in her class, Bueckers committed to UConn in 2019 as one of the most exciting recruits ever for a program that’s been full of superstars. Coming into UConn, Bueckers immediately lived up to her recruiting grade, winning four different national player of the year awards—AP Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA Women’s National Player of the Year and the John R. Wooden Award. She was the first freshman to win any of the four awards, let alone all four.
Though Bueckers led UConn to the national championship game as a sophomore, she dealt with injuries throughout the season, and missed the entirety of her third year with the Huskies, before returning strong for the 2023-24 season.
This season, Bueckers averaged 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while helping UConn reach their fourth NCAA Final Four since she arrived on campus. She’s been even more outstanding during the Huskies’ current playoff run, recording three games with over 30 points and even a 40-point game in the Sweet 16.
Bueckers has one game left in her college career, the national championship game, and the chance to go out with a title. Regardless of the outcome when the Huskies face South Carolina, Bueckers’s draft stock likely won’t change. She is still the clear-cut No. 1 pick in the draft, and will most likely be taken first in nine days.
Bueckers holds a bevy of strengths that have made her such a tremendous prospect, starting with her leadership, which shines from her confidence in press conferences to the way she shows up for her teammates. Bueckers has been a vocal supporter for her teammates, going as far as to wake up early to make breakfast for her teammate, Jana El-Alfy, that was observing Ramadan.
As a player, evaluators have cited her intelligence, efficiency, and decision-making as several of Bueckers’s biggest strengths.
“Bueckers has great length at the point guard position, and her ability to facilitate with pinpoint precision is unmatched,” Bleacher Report’s Rachel Galligan wrote in February. “Her basketball IQ is through the roof, as she understands pace and shot selection at the highest level. Her ability to dictate the tempo of a game in the full court, while operating with efficiency in the half court is rare.”
Galligan added in April: “She is the type of player who makes everyone around her better, as well as being the type of guard who can create her own instant offense. Her poise, understanding of pace and decision-making will all translate to the pro level as a franchise lead guard for many years.”
In a column from The Athletic, six anonymous WNBA general managers broke down Bueckers and the upcoming 2025 draft class.
“Despite the fact that people always want to seem to talk about some potential flaws, (she’s)
still the most sure thing today in this draft,” one general manager said of Bueckers to The Athletic.
Another WNBA general manager said to The Athletic, “Great leader. She’s incredibly poised. She’s prepared, pro-ready and so impressive, on and off the court. A franchise foundational player.”
As the presumptive No. 1 pick for years, much of the concerns surrounding Bueckers revolve around her physical health over her actual play on the court.
Following her freshman year, Bueckers underwent ankle surgery, and during her sophomore year, she missed time due to a fracture in her knee and lateral meniscus tear. She came back and led UConn to the national championship game, where they lost to South Carolina. Bueckers would go on to miss the next season with a torn meniscus. She has returned to her status as an elite player the last two seasons, but there could be concerns over her ability to stay healthy in the long run.
“My only concerns with Paige are physical. If she can stay healthy, I think she’s an All-Star level talent. She can play with or without the ball which makes her super valuable,” a general manager said to The Athletic. “She scores at all three levels. She’s big and tall and long enough to survive defensively. I think her offense is better than her defense, but it’s hard to find things not to like about Paige.”