Don’t meet your heroes, unless their name is Paige Bueckers

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series from SB Nation profiling the 2025 WNBA All-Star teams. Today, let’s get to know Paige Bueckers.

There’s a common saying: Don’t meet your heroes. The counter to that would be to pick better heroes, because if your hero is Paige Bueckers, you’ll probably have a great time seeing her. Bueckers mixes all the best parts of all our favorite hoopers: the on-court skill, of course, but it’s her lovable personality and generosity that have garnered her a loyal horde of fans. As she enters her next chapter, or turns the “Paige” into her WNBA career, she’s staying true to herself and her values.

The result? Pure entertainment in games and out of them.

Bueckers was raised in the humble town of Hopkins, Minnesota, and by the time she entered high school, she was already being recruited by top schools. As we know, she chose to attend UConn and be coached by Geno Auriemma with the hope of winning a National Championship. She entered her college freshman season already internationally known by the basketball community.

Her five years at UConn were continuously interrupted by injury — she missed most of her sophomore season and all of her junior season because of it. Still, she continued to win people’s hearts with her faith and commitment to not just coming back better, but to making sure she was helping others along the way. That included opening an entirely free grocery store for families in her hometown of Hopkins, ensuring kids would have the nourishment they needed to succeed in school.

By the time her redshirt senior season arrived, there was little time for Bueckers to win that elusive national title, but she made the most of the time she had. In the end, she graduated as a champion and went on to be drafted No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

As the only rookie who was selected as a WNBA All-Star starter, Bueckers has earned her place. She is averaging 18.3 points per game in her first season, in addition to dishing out 5.4 assists and swiping 1.7 steals per game. Maybe her most impressive stat of all is the fact that she is leading the entire league in field goals made and attempted from 10-15 feet from the basket. Anyone who watched Bueckers in college knows she is a middy master, but to lead the entire league as a rookie is impressive. She has attempted 64 shots from that range and made 34 of them.

Paige’s basketball IQ is off the charts, too, as she patiently reads defenses and makes plays with complete ease. She looks wise beyond her years as a prospect, knowing the right times to pass and the right time to shoot it herself.

Her Dallas Wings team is just better with her there. She motivates her fellow rookies and gives them praise when they perform well and win games for the team. Days after Li Yeuru was traded to the Wings, she was already calling her and Paige “besties.” Bueckers just has a way with people, something that makes it that much more fun to watch her ball out and achieve success as a player.

We’re in for a great decade-plus with Paige Bueckers in the WNBA. She raises the standard everywhere she goes. From her team that plays better with her there, to the league with her strong voice, and the fans as she leads by example. Bueckers is the kind of player that will inspire kids to be basketball players, sure, but she will also inspire kids to give back to their communities and be good teammates as well. With her as part of the “next generation” of women’s basketball talent, fans are in for a treat — watching those mid-range shots, her cold as ice daggers from distance, those magical passes. She’s a winner in every aspect of the game, and her star is just beginning to rise.