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WNBA Makes Big Paige Bueckers Announcement in First Career Game

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nathan Dougherty | Last updated May 16, 2025 9:26 PM ET

The WNBA is giving Paige Bueckers a big welcome to the league.

The former UConn star and No. 1 overall pick made her official debut on Friday as the Dallas Wings hosted the Minnesota Lynx. It didn't take Bueckers long to make her mark on the game, grabbing an offensive rebound on her own missed shot and scoring the game's first points on a putback shot with 9:14 remaining in the first quarter.

The WNBA made an announcement for the big moment.

"That didn’t take long Paige Bueckers’ first WNBA bucket is in the books!" the league wrote in a post on X.

That didn’t take long ‍ Paige Bueckers’ first WNBA bucket is in the books!

WNBA Tip-Off presented by @CarMax | ION pic.twitter.com/kZieYTWi4Y
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 16, 2025

Bueckers had already shared some love for the Dallas fans, saying after the team's preseason finale that she was excited to play for the home crowd.

"It's amazing," Bueckers said. "The turnout, just the environment itself, they love women's basketball here. To be able to start this season off with a great environment like this, to show out in front of Dallas, to feel that embrace for the first time, it's been amazing."

The Wings have been equally impressed with Bueckers, with executive vice president and general manager Curt Miller sharing praise for the way she handled the pressure while leading the Huskies to a national title just days before the WNBA draft.

“I don’t know if a player has felt more pressure to validate a collegiate career with a championship than Paige has,” Miller said, via Time. “How she navigated that and thrived through that was really, really special to witness.”

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

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