UConn head coach Geno Auriemma has seen Paige Bueckers rise through every level of basketball — from a top recruit to a national champion contender, to the No. 1 overall pick, to one of the most productive rookies the WNBA has seen in years. Now, as the Dallas Wings guard prepares for her first USA Basketball Women’s National Team training camp, Auriemma believes her next leap is arriving right on time.
USA Basketball invited Bueckers to its Dec. 12–14 senior national team camp at Duke University, placing the 2025 Rookie of the Year among the early pool of candidates for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup roster. It marks the latest step in a rapid ascent that has drawn steady praise from her former college coach.
“The first step is to get invited,” Auriemma said. “So, that’s number one. So, that’s happened. The second is going to come easy for her — to understand what they’re asking you to do once you get there. She’s great at that. Whatever you need her to do, she’s going to do it.”
Paige Bueckers Already Shows the Traits of a National Team Guard
Bueckers enters the camp following a rookie season defined by both production and poise. She averaged 19.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 36 games, while becoming the only player in the WNBA to rank top-nine in scoring, assists and steals. Her résumé included a record-setting 44-point performance in Los Angeles, a Rookie of the Year award, All-WNBA Second Team recognition and a starting nod in the league’s All-Star Game.
Auriemma said the early success has strengthened her readiness for the next level of competition.
“I think the year in the league has helped her to understand that I can handle myself in this level of competition and I can be what my team needs me to be,” he said.
He added that national team environments reward players who understand their roles immediately.
“Playing on a national team involves a lot of awareness — being self-aware, knowing who you are, what you are, and knowing you might have a different role than you have on the team you’re playing on regularly,” Auriemma said. “I think all of those things are things that she’s very familiar with. So, not a lot that I can give.”
A Wide-Open Backcourt and a Chance to Emerge
Auriemma did not shy away from noting that USA Basketball is still searching for its long-term answer at point guard in the post–Sue Bird era. He said the national team landscape has yet to produce a definitive successor — and that openings remain.
“It’s a position that I think — I don’t want to say it’s completely up for grabs because I haven’t followed it that long — but since Sue retired, there hasn’t really been a clear-cut successor,” Auriemma said. “Here’s the successor, here’s the next person that can take over this team and be able to lead a lot of veteran players.”
Where Bueckers ultimately fits within that competition, he said, will depend on timing.
“So I think someone’s going to emerge, whether that’s Paige or someone else, whether it’s now for the World Championships or for the Olympics,” he said. “Maybe she’s too young, I don’t know. Or maybe she’s ready. I do know she has all of the things that she needs.”
Paige Bueckers Continues to Rise One Step at a Time
Bueckers has not spoken at length about the camp invitation but reflected on her rookie season in an Instagram post, thanking teammates and emphasizing growth.
“Thank you, God, for an amazing rookie year,” she wrote. “Process over results. Unconditional joy and gratitude… Now let’s keep on keeping on. Go Wings!”
For Dallas, the invitation affirms her trajectory as a franchise cornerstone. For USA Basketball, it marks the beginning of an evaluation process that will run through 2026. And for Auriemma, it is simply another checkpoint on a path he has expected her to reach for years.