Women's Fastbreak On SI

Paige Bueckers Dominates College Athlete NIL Sales

UConn Husies superstar Paige Bueckers is in a league of her own in this specific aspect of NIL sales.

Grant Young

Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles the ball against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles the ball against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

There's no debate that UConn Huskies standout Paige Bueckers is the most popular player in women's college basketball.

Not only has Bueckers (who is projected to be the No. 1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft) solidified herself as one of college basketball's most talented athletes, but she has broken into mainstream multiple times over the past couple of years in terms of the pop culture's consciousness.

One example of this is when Bueckers, who was just 19 years old at the time, sent an iconic message about using her platform to shine a light on Black women after winning the 2021 Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award.

“As a white woman who leads a Black-led sport, I want to shed a light on Black women," Bueckers said. "They don’t get the media coverage they deserve. They’ve given so much to this sport, the community, and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable."

Her keen fashion sense has also caused her to go viral a few times, and led to many lucrative NIL deals.

Despite her popularity, few people would have likely predicted that Bueckers was one of the most renowned athletes in all of college sports this year, in terms of jersey sales. But that's exactly what a Tuesday Instagram post from Sports Business Ventures @sportsbusinessventures) proved.

The post showed that Bueckers holds the top two spots for all college athlete jersey sales in August, per the NIL store. Her UConn home jersey holds the top spot while her UConn away jersey snags second place.

Bueckers is only behind LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne in a 2024 women's NIL evaluation, per On3. But that could end up changing if Bueckers keeps building on the popularity she has clearly accrued this summer.

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Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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