NEXT LEVEL

FRESH OFF AN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP, NO. 1 DRAFT PICK PAIGE BUECKERS ADDS TO THE WNBA'S MOMENTUM

- BY SEAN GREGORY

BUECKERS AWAITS INTRODUCTION BEFORE A GAME AGAINST USC ON DEC. 21, 2024

IN EARLY APRIL, THREE DAYS AFTER WINNING A national title for the University of Connecticut Huskies and closing out one of the most decorated career in college-basketball history, Paige Bueckers is chilling out in a dressing room at The Tonight Show, where she's scheduled to make a cameo with the championship trophy. Host Jimmy Fallon pops by, assuring her this is the “first of many” appearances. Captain Kirk Douglas, guitarist for house band the Roots, offers his congratulations as Bueckers saunters down the hallway in her college jersey and shorts to tape a bit. “This is the last time I’ll ever wear the UConn uniform,” she says, not entirely ruefully.

She then puts on a rhinestone-adorned flannel shirt and baggy camo pants and appears on the stage to screams of approval. Bueckers (pronounced Beck-ers) is beaming when she returns backstage, having climbed the stairs through the audience, letting a lucky few tap the hefty hardware. “It was a little workout,” she says. “More than I’ve had the last couple of days.”

As much as any sports star on earth, Bueckers, 23, has earned her break from the athletic grind. The past few days have been a whirlwind: a celebration in a Tampa hotel after UConn's walloping of South Carolina, the 2024 defending champions, in the title game, then back in Storrs, Conn., for a homecoming rally, followed by a Mary J. Blige concert in Hartford. Bueckers' Fallon stop is one of a number of appearances in New York City, after which she'll make aquick trip back to Storrs for a parade and then return to New York to officially become a pro. Her selection by the Dallas Wings as the first overall pick will surprise no one but come with another round of fanfare.