Paige Bueckers’ Record-Breaking Debut Falls Short of Caitlin Clark

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Rodney Knuppel | Last updated May 21, 2025 3:45 PM ET

Paige Bueckers made her WNBA debut Friday night with the Dallas Wings, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Despite her solid performance, the Wings fell, 99-84, to the Minnesota Lynx.

Since then, Dallas has played a second game, and Bueckers was even more impressive. She dropped 19 points and dished out eight assists, though the effort resulted in another loss for the Wings. The Seattle Storm came away with a 79-71 victory.

That first game, which was part of a WNBA doubleheader on Ion, drew 639,000 viewers. The second game of the night, featuring the Golden State Valkyries and Los Angeles Sparks, attracted 581,000 viewers.

Front Office Sports highlighted Bueckers’ early impact on the league and its viewership numbers. In a social media post, it shared:

Paige Bueckers's WNBA debut drew 639,000 viewers on Ion.

Excluding games featuring Caitlin Clark, it's the second most-watched WNBA game ever on Ion. pic.twitter.com/MNxBbNPBLH
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) May 21, 2025

"Excluding games featuring Caitlin Clark, it's the second most-watched WNBA game ever on Ion," the post read.

Still, Bueckers’ debut didn’t quite match the explosive viewership Caitlin Clark generated in her WNBA debut last year. Clark's first game, which aired on ESPN, pulled in 2.1 million viewers across all platforms. That game was the most-watched WNBA matchup since 2001, when the Los Angeles Sparks faced the Houston Comets and drew 2.45 million viewers on NBC..

Clark has long been associated with record-breaking numbers. During her time at Iowa, she led the Hawkeyes in the 2024 NCAA women’s championship game on ESPN, which reached a staggering 18.7 million viewers, the most ever for a women’s college basketball game.

Bueckers, meanwhile, led the UConn Huskies to the 2025 NCAA championship game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. That game averaged 8.5 million viewers and peaked at 9.9 million on ESPN, making it the third-largest audience in women’s NCAA history.

Clark's WNBA season debut against the Chicago Sky drew a huge ratings number for ABC as well, attracting an average of 2.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA regular-season game since 2000.

Dallas and its No. 1 overall pick will be looking to secure their first win of the season on Wednesday night in a rematch at Minnesota. After that, the Wings travel to Atlanta on Saturday, then visit Connecticut on May 27 and Chicago on May 29.

Their next home game is set for May 31 against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky.

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

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