Paige Bueckers Opens Up About Mental Health Before WNBA Debut

“Mental health is extremely important,” she said. “The game is much more mental than it is physical, so I am making sure that’s right. You’re training your mind as much as you’re training your body, probably even more. It’s extremely important.

“I said before, I work with a sports psychologist and the main thing is that we’ve taken that’s really helped the mental side of the game is just running my own race, not running a race of comparison. Comparison is the thief of joy. So just focusing on myself, how I can better myself, how we can better the team.

“Losing myself in others, the more you care the more you invest yourself in others, the less you care about yourself and all that you’re going through. And then just staying present. You can’t worry too much about the future and the past. But if you focus on being there in the moment and captivating that, and being your best self in that moment—you can really make no mistakes.”

Bueckers is just a little less than two weeks into the start of her first WNBA training camp and preseason, and has focused on building up chemistry with a mostly new Wings roster and staff. There’s not much time, though, with the season set to open on May 16, when Dallas plays West champs Minnesota at home to open the season.

Bueckers will make her debut then. While there will be pressure, she says it’s important for her to keep the emphasis on the fact that basketball is fun.

“Just always have fun,” she said. “I think that is the main person people play the sport they love, is to have fun. And don’t ever forget it.”