Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Paige Bueckers Viral Photo Draws Star Teammate's Surprise Reaction

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Apr 30, 2025 6:28 PM ET

It's only been three days of training camp for No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings, but so far, she appears to be fitting in just fine. In fact, Bueckers has already discussed her newfound love of one Texas staple--barbeque food--and on Wednesday posted a photo with another Lone Star classic to her Instagram account that drew 135,000 likes in just one hour.

What was special about the photo? Well, it's Bueckers in a rather large cowboy hat, with PAIGE written on the brim. Her caption says, merely, "Howdy."

Now, one of the aspects of Wings training camp and preseason worth monitoring for Bueckers and the team is whether she fits well with her new teammates. Despite a 9-31 record last year, the Wings do have a star backcourt player on hand, Arike Ogunbowale, who has been in Dallas for six years, has been an All-Star for four of those years and has a career scoring average of 20.6 points.

A bond between the two will be a good start for this team's rebuild. On Bueckers' cowboy hat post, one of the first to reply was Ogunbowale.

Paige Bueckers on her latest IG post:

“Howdy” pic.twitter.com/YaClNItTAN
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) April 30, 2025

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Paige (@paigebueckers)

"omg she’s active finally! u do like us," Ogunbowale wrote.

Bueckers spoke this week with The Wings Bulletin on Substack about the need to form good chemistry with teammates quickly. The Wings have incoming defensive star DiJonai Carrington and shooter Ty Harris, as well as post players NaLyssa Smith and Myisha Hines-Allen also joining this season.

“I think we're all excited to be here, there’s a lot of new, so I think the team’s mentality is just to get better every single day and our chemistry going, growing our work ethic, play with passion, energy and intensity that doesn't matter how long we're playing together," Bueckers said. "Obviously, there will be ups and downs, as there is to every single season for every single team but continue to grow together, stay together, really enjoy playing with each other.”

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

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