Coming into the league one season after Caitlin Clark hit like a meteor and became a phenomenon was not easy for Paige Bueckers. The Dallas Wings guard and UConn product isn’t from Iowa, but she does rock a ponytail, as well as an offensive and defensive game that is superior to last season’s WNBA Rookie of the Year.
Paige Bueckers Sets WNBA Rookie Scoring Record With 44 Points
Bueckers set a WNBA rookie record with 44 points on 17 of 21 shooting, scoring more than half of her team’s offensive output in a tough loss to the LA Sparks. Early in the season, Bueckers was getting hers, leading rookie in most offensive categories and steals. However, the lack of talent on the team as well as the ball-dominant play of veteran All-star Arike Ogunbowale was noticeably holding her back. With Ogunbowale sidelined for the last four games, Bueckers has a Caitlin Clark red light and she’s proving to be equally effective, but more efficient. Bueckers spoke postgame about her performance against the Sparks.
“I’ve always prided myself in the team winning, so that’s obviously the main goal,” Bueckers said via ESPN insider Michael Voepel.
“I’m most proud of this team and the way we fight. This team just means so much to me. Just the way we invest. We love each other. It could be easy for us to be [9-27] and be miserable and hate coming to work, but we show up for each other. We’re learning and growing together. What we’re building here, it just makes me so happy.”
Clark Makes Fancy Passes & Shoots Logo Threes: Paige Bueckers Gets Buckets
Bueckers had just 18 of her 44 points come from free throws and 3-pointers, so she relied on her midrange game to help her offense.
“I truly think basketball has gotten away from it — it’s mostly layups and 3s,” Bueckers said via Voepel. “Teams don’t know how to guard it. So I think it’s an advantage when you can score in the midrange.”
Clark had a rookie season for the ages, but UConn coach Geno Auriemma warned us when Clark was in college getting all the press, that Bueckers was the best all-around player in the country. Blinded by the Nike hype and the logo threes and the social media mosh pit fueling race wars and national media gaining engagement from pitting players against each other, most people didn’t see Bueckers coming. She was the No. 1 overall pick, so she was expected to be good, but she’s been more than that. Her rookie season rivals that of Clark’s last year. Without the logo threes, the constant dramatics and unnecessary boosting of her performance by those with an agenda.
The Silent Assassin Is Having A Better Rookie Season Than Caitlin Clark’s
Bueckers is the fastest player to reach 500+ points and 150+ assists (28 games) First drafted rookie guard in WNBA history to score 10+ points in first 28 games of career. Currently the only WNBA player to rank in the Top 10 in assists and steals per game. After her explosion, Bueckers is averaging 19.7 points per game and shooting 47.1% from the field across 29 games.
Clark averaged 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds in 40 games in her rookie season in 2024. She shot just 41.7% from the field, but she averaged more assists and rebounds than Bueckers. Both Bueckers and Clark lived up to their No 1 overall billing. With Clark sidelined by several nagging injuries, including a bone bruise and groin pull, fans have gotten to see Bueckers in her greatness, dissecting defenses and carrying her 9-27 team on her back.
Is Paige Bueckers Better Than Caitlin Clark?
Despite the huge shadow Clark casts over the entire league, with a fan base of casual basketball fans that are committed to praising her and dismissing other WNBA players of equal talent and skill, she’s not the only white superstar at the guard position in the league. They don’t all do the same things. The points kept adding up for Paige as she got to her spots all over the floor and hit middies and layups and made key passes
“Right now she doesn’t think anybody can stop her,” said the analyst on WNBA League Pass.
In her first 24 minutes, Bueckers had 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the floor. Clark didn’t make more than 10 shots in a game her entire rookie season. If anything, it will be incredible watching these ballers go ponytail-to-ponytail for years to come.
Sophie Cunningham Says Referees Help Paige Bueckers
Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham recently suffered an ACL injury that has sidelined her for the season, but she didn’t hesitate to give her opinion on Paige Bueckers and blamed her accomplishments on a soft whistle. Cunningham has been under fire from the league and fans for comments she is making on her new “Show Me Something” podcast.
“I love Paige to death. Do not get me wrong, I think she’s a hell of a player, and would love to play with her one day. But those refs were giving her every freaking whistle last night.
“Like, you literally couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t touch her. And that s*** is so annoying to me. And if you’re gonna do that, give it to our guards. I just hate the inconsistency,” she added.
Cunningham actually defended Bueckers better than most this season during a close 81-80 loss to the Wings on August 12. The rookie sensation shot just 6-of-19 from the field for just 16 points. She did hit some key buckets down the stretch, but Sophie says she was not fond of how the referees handled her defense against Bueckers. Of course, that was her way of defending the injured Clark and protecting the narrative. Cunningham was anointed Clark’s enforcer and protector after she got into a few fisticuffs with opposing players defending hard fouls against Clark in games.
WNBA Had Record Attendance & Ratings
Talk is cheap, however, and the only way you can prove yourself is to be on the court performing. Right now, Paige Bueckers is the only one that is present and keeping eyeballs on the league.
Let social media tell it and nobody is watching.
“No one is watching any more. Besides those who watched before CC,” said one fan on X.
“I think people just quit watching wnba altogether,” said another.
That’s not exactly true. WNBA sets an all-time attendance record with 2,501,609 fans as of 8/20/25. In 2002, the record was set with 16 teams across 256 games. This season, the WNBA broke the record with 13 teams and just 226 games.
According to reports by Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, an average of 1.43 million viewers tuned into the 12 WNBA games on ABC this season, a 13% increase from the network’s average viewership in 2024, which was 1.26 million across eight regular season games.
Perhaps the most impressive factor in this year-over-year viewership jump for ABC was that while Clark played a huge role in lifting the average viewership of games on ABC, she was far from the only factor, as was limited to just three of the five ABC games that the Indiana Fever had in the 2025 regular season. Still all of those games were inside the top four most-watched games of the WNBA season thus far. Two other key factors that reflect the growth of the league overall concern demographics. According to ESPN, WNBA viewership for children from the ages of 2-17 increased by 21%, including a 46% increase among boys in that age cohort.
So, it’s going to take a village, not just Caitlin Clark. Paige Bueckers has arrived.
