{"id":346378,"date":"2025-12-15T08:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346378\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T08:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:36:07","slug":"dallas-wings-paige-bueckers-is-just-getting-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346378\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Wings\u2019 Paige Bueckers is just getting started"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings point guard and WNBA Rookie of the Year<\/a>, took the spotlight in women\u2019s basketball this year. The 24-year-old arrived in Dallas after being the No. 1 selection in the WNBA draft<\/a> in April, capping off an impressive collegiate run where she helped the University of Connecticut win a national championship title.<\/a><\/p>\n

Bueckers represents the best of our star athletes. The energy and determination she brings to the game and her dedication to her teammates and community make her a finalist for 2025 Texan of the Year. <\/p>\n

Born in Edina, Minn., Bueckers started playing basketball when she was around five years old. Her father coached her until middle school, and by the time she reached Hopkins High School, she was the No. 1 recruit in the country for the 2020 class. At the University of Connecticut, she became the face of a storied program, returning from injury to help deliver the Huskies their 12th NCAA title.<\/p>\n

When she arrived in Dallas, the question wasn\u2019t whether she\u2019d make an impact \u2014 it was how quickly. The answer came fast. She was a starter in all 36 appearances for the Wings and averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals this season. Her 44 points against the Los Angeles Sparks set a WNBA record for the highest single-game scoring performance by a rookie. <\/p>\n

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She\u2019s making Wings games must-watch basketball. At home games, the stands are filled with fans wearing Bueckers\u2019 No. 5 jersey and young girls sporting face-framing braids and a ponytail to match her signature game-day hairstyle. <\/p>\n

Ahead of their August showdown with the Indiana Fever, the Wings moved the game from their usual home court in Arlington to the American Airlines Center due to high demand for tickets to see the matchup between Bueckers and Caitlin Clark<\/a>. The Wings didn\u2019t make it to the playoffs this year, but Bueckers gave the city something to cheer for. <\/p>\n

But more than her athletic ability and impressive jump shots, Bueckers has shown a humility we wish was more common among stars like her. In interviews, she\u2019s quick to give credit to her teammates, coaches and God. In 2021, at the ESPN ESPYS, after being recognized as the best college athlete in women\u2019s sports, she used her acceptance speech<\/a> to celebrate and honor Black women and their contributions to the sport.<\/p>\n

In Dallas, Bueckers has teamed up with Verizon and Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods to coach a youth clinic and exhibition game, eager to give back to the community and make the city feel like home while she\u2019s here. And when she\u2019s not training, she\u2019s probably at another Dallas game<\/a> \u2014 popping up at Stars and Cowboys games, a Trinity FC match and the Mavericks.<\/p>\n

From her stylish game day tunnel outfits to TikTok videos dancing with her teammates to her smooth, disciplined basketball, it\u2019s a pleasure to watch her \u2014 and we can\u2019t wait to see what she does next. <\/p>\n

Beginning today, we are running our Texan of the Year finalists in a countdown to naming the 2025 honorees on Sunday, Dec. 28. You can follow all of the finalists as they are published at dallasnews.com\/opinion\/texanoftheyear<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings point guard and WNBA Rookie of the Year, took the spotlight in women\u2019s basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,50940,82,150970,630],"class_list":["post-346378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-editorials","tag-sports","tag-texan-of-the-year","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}