Following Caitlin Clark’s headline-making choice by the Indiana Fever in 2024, the WNBA is as soon as once more on the doorstep of one other era-defining second. This time, it’s Paige Bueckers’ flip, contemporary off delivering the UConn Huskies their document twelfth nationwide championship.
As you already know, Bueckers is extensively anticipated to go No. 1 general and land in Dallas. Now, the Dallas Wings CEO has a message for the group relating to Bueckers.
Dallas Wings CEO Excited About Paige Bueckers
Because the basketball world holds its collective breath, Wings CEO Greg Bibb isn’t ready for the official choice to precise his expectations. Final week, in an interview with “SportsDayDFW,” Bibb said that Bueckers will make an impression within the WNBA.
“I’m assured that if we draft Paige Bueckers, she’s going to transfer the needle for the Dallas Wings and girls’s basketball in North Texas,” mentioned Bibb.
There’s good motive for the excessive reward. Bueckers has been a phenom since her freshman season at UConn, the place she was named the 2021 Naismith Participant of the Yr and have become the primary freshman in historical past to win it. Regardless of battling accidents, Bueckers got here again sturdy in 2024-25, averaging 19.9 factors, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and a couple of.1 steals per recreation.
But it surely’s not simply the stats. It’s the way in which she strikes, the management she has, and Bueckers’ courtroom imaginative and prescient that separates her.
The Wings, already a workforce on the rise with athleticism and depth, might use a ground normal and a more in-depth, and Bueckers checks each packing containers. Furthermore, Bibb emphasised that she wouldn’t simply be a key basketball addition however a league-wide draw who might elevate WNBA rankings, group engagement, and the Wings’ model.
“For those who take a look at the rankings, when you take a look at the merch being bought, when you take a look at the attendance and venues, there are gamers that transfer these needles, and Paige Bueckers is one among them,” added Bibb through the interview.
Past X’s and O’s, Bueckers is a confirmed rankings magnet. Her presence helped push ladies’s faculty basketball viewership to historic ranges. The championship recreation between UConn and South Carolina on April 6 drew 8.5 million viewers, the third-most in event historical past.
As draft evening approaches, all eyes are on Dallas. The Wings maintain the ability to shift the steadiness of the WNBA, they usually comprehend it. With Bueckers within the image, the longer term isn’t simply shiny, it’s blazing.
In the meantime, Bibb has different plans for draft evening as effectively.
Greg Bibb Needs To Rejoice 2025 WNBA Draft Night time
This yr’s WNBA Draft is ready to happen at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York Metropolis, marking an enormous step ahead for the league. With pleasure constructing round rising stars, ticket costs have additionally jumped — now $99, practically double final yr’s $49.99.
Nonetheless, most Wings followers received’t be capable of make the journey to New York. Figuring out that, CEO Bibb is set to carry the expertise to Dallas as a substitute.
“We must always have over 3,000 folks at School Park Heart to mainly simply watch the draft on the large board. In some unspecified time in the future, Curt [Wings GM Curt Miller] will come out and tackle the followers and say, ‘Hey, we drafted this participant.’
“Whereas we could have some gamers in attendance who will discuss to the gang and a few programming for the followers, however actually simply a chance for Wings Nation to get collectively and have a good time the second collectively,” mentioned Bibb through the interview.
Whether or not in New York or Dallas, the 2025 WNBA Draft guarantees to be an evening to recollect. Followers can catch all of the motion reside on Monday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
