NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 \u2013 Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers has been named the 2025 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year, the WNBA announced today. She is the first player to earn the honor with Dallas since Allisha Gray in 2017.<\/p>\n
Bueckers received 70 votes from a national panel of 72 sportswriters and broadcasters. Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron received 2 votes.<\/p>\n
A starter in all 36 of her appearances, Bueckers averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.3 minutes and shot 47.4 percent from the field and 88.8 percent from the free throw line. She led all rookies in total points (692), points per game, total assists (194) and assists per game. Bueckers also ranked second among rookies in steals per game and free throw percentage and fourth in field goal percentage.<\/p>\n
On top of breaking the Wings\u2019 franchise rookie records, Bueckers finished third all-time in both total rookie points and total rookie assists. She also finished tied for second for the most double-digit scoring games by a rookie (35). Among all WNBA players, Bueckers ranked fifth in points per game, sixth in steals per game and ninth in assists per game.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 20 against the Los Angeles Sparks, Bueckers set a WNBA single-game rookie record with 44 points, making 17-of-21 shots from the field (81 percent). She became the first player in WNBA history to score 40 or more points and shoot at least 80 percent from the field in a game.<\/p>\n
Bueckers was voted as a starter for Team Collier for the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game. She was also named the Kia WNBA Rookie of the Month three consecutive times (June, July and August).<\/p>\n
Additional highlights of Bueckers\u2019 2025 season include:<\/p>\n
Was the only player this season ranked in the top 10 in points, assists and steals per game.
\nBecame the first rookie in WNBA history to average at least 15.0 points and 5.0 assists and shoot 45.0 percent or higher from the field in a season.
\nScored at least 10 points in each of her first 30 games, the fourth-longest streak to begin a career in WNBA history.
\nBecame the second rookie in WNBA history to record multiple games of at least 35 points, joining Wings teammate Arike Ogunbowale (2019).
\nBecame the second rookie in WNBA history to finish with at least 500 points, 150 assists, 100 rebounds and 50 steals in a season, joining Caitlin Clark (2024).
\nPosted ten games with at least 20 points and five assists, the second most by a rookie in WNBA history (Clark had 18 last season).
\nBecame the fastest rookie in WNBA history to reach 500 points and 100 assists.<\/p>\n
Bueckers was selected by the Wings with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm after a decorated career at the University of Connecticut. A three-time AP All-America First Team selection, Bueckers led the Huskies to the Final Four in each of the four seasons she played and won the national championship in the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n
In honor of being named the 2025 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year, Bueckers will receive $5,150 and a trophy designed to commemorate her achievement.<\/p>\n
Below are the voting results for the 2025 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year Award and a list of past recipients.<\/p>\n
2025 KIA WNBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR VOTING RESULTS<\/p>\n
Player
\nTeam
\nVotes<\/p>\n
Paige Bueckers
\nDallas Wings
\n70<\/p>\n
Sonia Citron
\nWashington Mystics
\n2<\/p>\n
KIA WNBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS<\/p>\n
1998 \u2013 Tracy Reid, Charlotte<\/p>\n
1999 \u2013 Chamique Holdsclaw, Washington<\/p>\n
2000 \u2013 Betty Lennox, Minnesota<\/p>\n
2001 \u2013 Jackie Stiles, Portland<\/p>\n
2002 \u2013 Tamika Catchings, Indiana<\/p>\n
2003 \u2013 Cheryl Ford, Detroit<\/p>\n
2004 \u2013 Diana Taurasi, Phoenix<\/p>\n
2005 \u2013 Temeka Johnson, Washington<\/p>\n
2006 \u2013 Seimone Augustus, Minnesota<\/p>\n
2007 \u2013 Armintie Price, Chicago<\/p>\n
2008 \u2013 Candace Parker, Los Angeles<\/p>\n
2009 \u2013 Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta<\/p>\n
2010 \u2013 Tina Charles, Connecticut<\/p>\n
2011 \u2013 Maya Moore, Minnesota<\/p>\n
2012 \u2013 Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles<\/p>\n
2013 \u2013 Elena Delle Donne, Chicago<\/p>\n
2014 \u2013 Chiney Ogwumike, Connecticut<\/p>\n
2015 \u2013 Jewell Loyd, Seattle<\/p>\n
2016 \u2013 Breanna Stewart, Seattle<\/p>\n
2017 \u2013 Allisha Gray, Dallas<\/p>\n
2018 \u2013 A\u2019ja Wilson, Las Vegas<\/p>\n
2019 \u2013 Napheesa Collier, Minnesota<\/p>\n
2020 \u2013 Crystal Dangerfield, Minnesota<\/p>\n
2021 \u2013 Michaela Onyenwere, New York<\/p>\n
2022 \u2013 Rhyne Howard, Atlanta<\/p>\n
2023 \u2013 Aliyah Boston, Indiana<\/p>\n
2024 \u2013 Caitlin Clark, Indiana<\/p>\n
2025 \u2013 Paige Bueckers, Dallas<\/p>\n
About Kia America<\/p>\n
Headquartered in Irvine, California, Kia America continues to top automotive quality surveys. Kia is recognized as one of the TIME World\u2019s Most Sustainable Companies of 2024. Kia serves as the \u201cOfficial Automotive Partner\u201d of the WNBA and NBA and offers a range of gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles sold through a network of nearly 800 dealers in the U.S., including several cars and SUVs proudly assembled in America*.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com<\/a>. To receive custom email notifications for press releases the moment they are published, subscribe at\u00a0www.kiamedia.com\/us\/en\/newsalert<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n * Select trims of the 2025 all-electric EV6 and EV9 all-electric three-row SUV, Sportage (excludes HEV and PHEV models), Sorento (excludes HEV and PHEV models), and Telluride are assembled in the United States from U.S. and globally sourced parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 \u2013 Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers has been named the 2025 Kia WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-218711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}