NEW YORK — Paige Bueckers’s next stop is Texas.
The Dallas Wings took the Connecticut product No. 1 overall Monday night, a week and a day after she led the Huskies to the national title.
Bueckers said she had an “overwhelming sense of gratitude” to go No. 1 overall. “Dallas, I’m so excited—a new city, a fresh start….let’s get it,” she said in a live TV interview.
Bueckers was taken the day after it was reported she had a three-year deal with Unrivaled that would pay her more in its first year than the entirety of her WNBA rookie deal.
Per the most recent collective bargaining agreement, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft is slotted into a four-year contract paying $78,831 in its first year and $348,198 over the life of the deal.
Bueckers was joined by her family, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma and Huskies teammate Azzi Fudd when WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert announced her as the draft’s top pick.
“The conversations [with Dallas] were brief, but just for them to know that I’m coming in and wanting to give everything I have to that organization,” Bueckers told reporters after she was picked. “We have established that there [are] new levels of standards that are going to be set in play. It’s not a rebuild, it’s just a build from where we are.”
For the past year, there had been some speculation Bueckers would wait to join the WNBA or otherwise force her way to a preferred destination. Bueckers’s successor as the top pick in 2026 will likely have a significantly richer rookie contract, but the point guard has a raft of endorsements, including with blue-chip companies like Nike and Gatorade.
In Dallas, the 23-year-old will join Arike Ogunbowale, a four-time All Star, to form a talented backcourt. Ogunbowale has been the one star who has stuck with the Wings as a succession of big names have forced their way out of town.
Though the franchise has only finished over .500 once in its nine years since relocating from Dallas, Bueckers is not the only reason for hope. The team hired respected WNBA executive Curt Miller to run basketball operations in November, and is moving from a small arena in Arlington to a larger one in Dallas in 2026.
‘Nothing To Report’ On Expansion
Englebert was asked repeatedly about the league’s plans for expansion and its CBA negotiations, but said very little. Her plan to increase the league to 16 teams by 2028 is on schedule, and she was noncommittal about going beyond that number. The league is expanding to 13 teams in 2025 with the Golden State Valkyries, and 15 in 2026 with franchises in Toronto and Portland.
The WNBA received significant interest for its 16th expansion bid, which was due at the end of January as markets such as Houston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Detroit all made bids along with other markets, while a group in Boston, which includes former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams, is currently exploring multiple options to get a team.
“Nothing to report specifically, other than we had huge demand in our bidding process for a WNBA team,” Englebert said. “So really excited to be evaluating which cities would be best going forward, and just evaluating whether it is more than one, quite frankly. So we’ve got to put all that together. You don’t want to degrade the quality of the game already going to 16 [teams]. We’re adding 33% additional roster spots by adding 48 spots to a league of 144 so we’re in the process of evaluating all that.”
Rest of First Round
The Valkyries made history with their first-ever pick at No. 5 overall, while the Mystics had three of the top six picks after a series of trades. TCU guard Hailey Van Lith will join her former LSU teammate Angel Reese in Chicago.
1. Dallas Wings: Paige Bueckers (Connecticut), $78,831 rookie salary
2. Seattle Storm: Dominique Malonga (France), $78,831
3. Washington Mystics: Sonia Citron (Notre Dame), $78,831
4. Washington Mystics: Kiki Iriafen (Southern California), $78,831
5. Golden State Valkyries: Justé Jocyté (Lithuania), $75,643
6. Washington Mystics: Georgia Amoore (Kentucky), $75,643
7. Connecticut Sun: Aneesah Morrow (LSU), $75,643
8. Connecticut Sun: Saniya Rivers (North Carolina State), $75,643
9. Los Angeles Sparks: Sarah Ashlee Barker (Alabama), $72,455
10. Chicago Sky: Ajsa Sivka (Slovenia), $72,455
11. Chicago Sky: Hailey Van Lith (TCU), $72,455
12. Dallas Wings: Aziaha James (North Carolina State), $72,455
