Who is Paige Bueckers?
Paige Madison Bueckers was born on October 20, 2001, in Edina, Minnesota, and spent her childhood in the nearby city of St. Louis Park. She began her basketball journey at the age of five.
In her early years, she also participated in Little League Baseball as a catcher, along with playing football and soccer, but by the time she reached first grade, her primary focus shifted to basketball.
Paige Bueckers developed a friendship with National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jalen Suggs during their elementary school years. She received basketball coaching from her father until she reached the seventh grade.
Bueckers found inspiration in the achievements of NBA stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, as well as Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. She was a devoted fan of the Minnesota Lynx, a WNBA team.
High School
During her seventh-grade year, Paige Bueckers participated in both the tenth-grade and junior varsity basketball teams at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka.
At that point, she was also engaged in year-round play with North Tartan, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) program that competes in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, a national circuit. In the year leading up to her eighth-grade season, Bueckers experienced a growth spurt of four inches.
She became a member of the varsity team at Hopkins in eighth grade, playing under head coach Brian Cosgriff. Throughout the season, she averaged 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
Paige Bueckers excelled in three-point shooting, leading her team in that category, and she ranked second in assists. The Hopkins team concluded the season with a record of 28–3 and secured a runner-up position in the Class 4A state tournament, where Bueckers earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
Paige Bueckers earned a five-star rating and was recognized as the top player in the 2020 class by ESPN. By the age of 14, while in eighth grade, she had attracted scholarship offers from NCAA Division I basketball programs such as Minnesota, Iowa State, and Illinois.
On April 1, 2019, she announced her decision to commit to the University of Connecticut. Other schools she was considering included Notre Dame, Oregon State, Oregon, UCLA, Minnesota, South Carolina, Maryland, Texas, and Duke.
On November 13, she signed a National Letter of Intent with UConn, becoming the 11th number-one recruit to join the university since 1998.
During the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July, Bueckers recorded an average of 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and a tournament-leading 5.4 assists per game.
In the gold medal match against Australia, she contributed 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, leading her team to a 74–70 victory in overtime.
Paige Bueckers was subsequently awarded the title of Most Valuable Player and selected for the All-Tournament Team. On December 10, 2019, she received the accolade of USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.
WNBA & Nationals
Paige Bueckers was chosen as the first overall selection in the 2025 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings. She represented the United States at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women’s Americas Championship held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Over the course of five games, Bueckers averaged 11 points, three steals, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game, contributing to her team’s gold medal victory.
Additionally, she participated in the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Minsk, Belarus, where she played seven games and averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game, while also leading the tournament with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.13.
In the final match against France, Bueckers helped secure the gold medal by scoring eight points and providing ten assists.
