{"id":510997,"date":"2026-03-08T10:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/510997\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:49:10","slug":"paige-bueckers-was-given-key-team-usa-advice-by-sue-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/510997\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige Bueckers Was Given Key Team USA Advice By Sue Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sue Bird<\/a> had a simple message for Dallas Wings<\/a> star Paige Bueckers<\/a> after December\u2019s national team training camp in Durham: be louder.<\/p>\n

Bueckers, who will make her senior Team USA competitive debut at the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico next week, addressed the exchange Saturday inside the Miami Heat\u2019s practice facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe came up to me and said, \u2018You\u2019re quiet,’\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cAnd I felt like I was yelling the whole time. It reminded me of being around Coach Geno because he says the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bird, the national team\u2019s managing director, detailed the conversation and explained what she was really after.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I did say that to her last camp,\u201d Bird said. \u201cShe likes talking shit, so I appreciate that \u2014 that\u2019s the type of vocal that I like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sue Bird Sees Paige Bueckers as a Connector<\/p>\n

Bird, the national team\u2019s managing director, was not issuing a warning \u2014 she was pushing Bueckers toward something she already sees.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaige has really demonstrated that she can be a connector, and it\u2019s about bringing that out of her,\u201d Bird said. \u201cShe\u2019s a young player, first time on the senior national team, so there could be a tendency to fall into the background. You want somebody like Paige, who is a connector, to just be herself. So I was encouraging that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bueckers said holding herself and others accountable is a personal priority heading into Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about holding people accountable,\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a people pleaser and didn\u2019t want to step on toes. But I\u2019ve learned that calling people out is really calling people up \u2014 doing it constructively, not personally. My teammates need to see me hold myself accountable to the same standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark Among Players Making Senior Debuts<\/p>\n

Bueckers is one of four players making their senior national team competitive debut in Puerto Rico, joined by Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark<\/a>, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese<\/a>, and Washington Mystics forward Kiki Iriafen<\/a>. Bird had direct advice for all of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith USA Basketball, there\u2019s always a balance you have to strike between yourself \u2014 why you\u2019re here and what you\u2019re bringing to the team \u2014 but also trying to mesh with the rest of the group as quickly as possible,\u201d Bird said. \u201cOne mistake doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re off the team. One right play doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re on the team. You have to get in there and bring the intangibles \u2014 the reason why you\u2019re there every day at practice. You have to be a sponge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bueckers said she plans to approach this experience the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo lean on the older players, ask questions, be a sponge \u2014 but also soak up this experience for myself because I want to learn and grow for the next experience,\u201d Bueckers said.<\/p>\n

She also spoke about how quickly she expects this group to gel.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust meshing with a new group \u2014 that\u2019s something I learned in Breese too, how quickly chemistry can build organically,\u201d Bueckers said. \u201cI love playing basketball and building relationships, and basketball is the best way for me to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sue Bird on Puerto Rico as a Test for USA Basketball<\/p>\n

Bird noted that the qualifying tournament, which the United States enters having already secured its spot in the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup, puts first-timers in an unfamiliar situation \u2014 facing teams playing for their tournament lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part about this qualifying tournament is we already qualified,\u201d Bird said. \u201cThat means the other teams aren\u2019t just playing against the U.S. \u2014 they\u2019re playing for themselves. They\u2019re trying to qualify. So I think it\u2019s a wonderful test, especially for players who haven\u2019t been on the senior national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States opens play on March 11 against Senegal in San Juan and also faces Puerto Rico, Italy, New Zealand, and Spain. The FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup follows in Berlin from Sept. 4-13.<\/p>\n

More Dallas Wings News & WNBA Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sue Bird had a simple message for Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers after December\u2019s national team training camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3691,1760,2834,231614,105153,2833,99,61391,42270,87715,434,4679],"class_list":{"0":"post-510997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-angel-reese","9":"tag-caitlin-clark","10":"tag-dallas-wings","11":"tag-fiba-womens-world-cup","12":"tag-kara-lawson","13":"tag-paige-bueckers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sue-bird","16":"tag-team-usa","17":"tag-usa-basketball","18":"tag-wnba","19":"tag-wnba-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510997","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=510997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}