Paige Bueckers Didn’t Get Her ‘Preferred’ WNBA Team After Draft Lottery

Kristen Wong | Nov 18, 2024

David Butler II-Imagn Images

The WNBA draft lottery results are in, and the Dallas Wings will have the No. 1 pick come April. It’s great news for the Wings franchise, which no doubt has its sights set on Paige Bueckers, but the feeling might not be totally mutual.

Prior to the draft lottery, the UConn Huskies guard had a “preferred” landing spot in the WNBA, according to ESPN’s Michael Voepel. 

“Sources around the league have indicated that the Los Angeles Sparks, who got the No. 2 pick in the lottery, would have been Bueckers’ preferred option,” Voepel wrote. “Like the Wings, the Sparks also currently don't have a head coach. But Los Angeles is a gigantic market and a team that could also have used a guard like Bueckers.”

The Sparks, who selected Cameron Brink with the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft and boast a talented young core, would have made for a desirable destination for Bueckers, but it appears fate has other plans.

Wings players were elated to find out they won the No. 1 pick on Sunday, and for good reason. Bueckers has been plagued by injuries in her college career but is currently playing out her redshirt senior season at UConn, averaging 21.3 points through the first three games of the 2024-25 campaign. The 2021 Naismith Player of the Year technically still has one year of eligibility left.

If Bueckers does land in Dallas next spring, her impact may not be all that different from Caitlin Clark’s arrival in Indianapolis as last year’s consensus No. 1 pick.

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