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Big Paige Bueckers News Emerges on Thursday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Rowan Fisher-Shotton | Last updated Jun 12, 2025 7:59 PM ET

When the Texas Rangers take on the Kansas City Royals at Globe Life Field on Wednesday, June 18, they’ll do so under an extra layer of star power.

On Thursday, Dallas Wings reporter Joey Mistretta revealed that No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers and Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman will each throw a ceremonial first pitch to kick off the contest.

The Rangers (33-36, fourth in the AL West) and Royals (34-34, fourth in AL Central) are both battling to stay afloat in two of Major League Baseball's most tightly packed divisions.

Adding Bueckers and Lieberman to the pregame ceremony bridges basketball’s brightest young talent and one of the sport’s all-time greats with America’s pastime.

Paige Bueckers and Nancy Lieberman will throw out the first pitches for the Rangers' game on June 18.#MLB #WingsUp https://t.co/shvaxLOGhR
— Joey Mistretta (@JoeyMistretta_) June 12, 2025

Bueckers led the Huskies to the 2025 NCAA Championship Game, ending her college career with 2,439 points (third most in UConn history).

She was also a two-time winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award (top point guard in NCAA Division I women’s basketball), a three-time Big East Player of the Year and a three-time unanimous first team All-American.

Selected No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Wings, Bueckers has already turned heads in her first seven games, averaging 17.6 points, 6.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.

Lieberman, meanwhile, was the first overall pick in the 1980 Women’s Professional Basketball League Draft by the Dallas Diamonds and is widely regarded as one of the biggest figures in women's basketball.

She played nearly three decades professionally and later coached in the WNBA, G-League and NBA.

In 1996, Lieberman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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