Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers was named the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year on Tuesday, securing the honor with 70 of 72 first-place votes from a national media panel. Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron received the other two votes.
The No. 1 overall pick in the April draft, Bueckers immediately excelled in the league after leading the UConn Huskies to their 12th national championship. Starting all 36 games for the Wings, she averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. She was the only player in the WNBA to rank in the top 10 for points, assists, and steals per game.
Bueckers led all rookies in total points (692) and assists (194), as well as in per-game averages for both categories. Her season was highlighted by a record-setting performance on August 20 against the Los Angeles Sparks, where she scored 44 points to set a new WNBA single-game rookie record. In that game, she shot an incredible 17-of-21 from the field (81%), becoming the first player in league history to score 40 or more points while shooting at least 80%.
Despite Bueckers’ standout season, the Wings finished with a 10-30 record and missed the playoffs.
Bueckers is the seventh former UConn player to win the award, joining a prestigious list that includes Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), Breanna Stewart (2016), Napheesa Collier (2019), and Crystal Dangerfield (2020). She is also the 16th No. 1 draft pick to be named Rookie of the Year since the award’s inception in 1998.
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