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UConn star Paige Bueckers will delcare for the 2025 WNBA Draft, she confirmed to Rebecca Lobo on Friday ahead of the Huskies' Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma in the Women's NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Bueckers is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft on April 14.
Bueckers has another year of eligibility and could return to Storrs for the 2025-26 season, but had previously indicated she was ready turn pro.
"Yeah, that's the plan," Bueckers said after the team's loss to Tennessee on Feb. 6 when asked directly if she would go pro after the season.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports' Isis Young on March 6, Bueckers reiterated that this would be her last season at UConn.
"Yeah, definitely knowing it's my last," Bueckers said when asked if anything felt different this season. "I mean, I had a feeling last year that I wanted to come back. I had not made that decision until late but it was always a gut feeling of mine. So just knowing that there's a lot more lasts that are coming up, like my last XL game, senior night this weekend."
To this point, though, Bueckers had not said anything specific about the WNBA. Bueckers will have to make an official decision within 48 hours of UConn's final game
Following the 2025 WNBA Draft Lottery, which the Dallas Wings won to grab the No. 1 pick, ESPN reported Bueckers' preferred location was Los Angeles (the Sparks got the No. 2 pick, but have since traded it to the Seattle Storm). That, combined with Bueckers' major marketability, her plans to play in Unrivaled's second season next winter and the ongoing labor battle between the WNBPA and the WNBA, had led to some rumblings about whether Bueckers would buck the trend and wait to join the WNBA until 2026.
It always seemed unlikely that Bueckers would actually sit out of an entire season, though. Now, it's clear that she will indeed be taking her talents to the WNBA next season.
That's great news for the Wings. Bueckers, who is averaging 19.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals on absurd 54.2/41.1/90.2 shooting splits, is a franchise-changing talent. She is a perfect backcourt partner for long-time Wings star Arike Ogunbowale and will help them compete both now and in the future.
