Paige Bueckers Gives Nika Muhl Cat-Related Nickname Amid ACL Injury Update
Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment for women's basketball fans since the 2024 WNBA regular season ended was beloved former UConn Huskies and current Seattle Storm guard Nika Muhl tearing her ACL while playing overseas for the Turkish league's Beşiktaş Women's Basketball Team.
This was an upsetting development for Muhl's massive fanbase. However, if there was one person who seemed confident that Muhl would bounce back from this injury better than ever, it was Muhl's former UConn teammate Paige Bueckers.
In the wake of Muhl's injury, Bueckers sent a message to her on her Instagram story, sharing a photo of them embracing on the court with the caption, "My strong strong twin. Nothing you can't handle Lets do it... God speed! 🫶 @nika.muhl".
gonna come back stronger than ever nika 🤍 (via paige’ instagram story) pic.twitter.com/FdYGWDkjIZ
— #5 (@accesspb5) October 4, 2024
Bueckers has also suffered a torn ACL and therefore knows what coming back stronger from it will require from Muhl.
Muhl was finally able to have her torn ACL fixed in surgery over the weekend. And in her first post since the surgery occurred, Muhl was seen posing in bed with sunglasses on and cradling two cats, with the caption, "Day 1 featuring Mad Max & G 🦿lets get it".
The top two comments on this post both belong to Bueckers, who gave Muhl a new nickname by writing, "Big purr".
Bueckers then also added another comment that wrote, "Bed rest could never stop a good photo shoot".
There's still a long road to recovery ahead for Muhl, who will likely miss most (if not all) of the 2025 WNBA season.
But at least she has great friends like Bueckers to lean on for support.
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.