The league announced Tuesday that Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers were named WNBA Rookie of the Year 2025.
The Bueckers, the seventh-placed former UConn player to win the award, received 70 of 70 of 72 votes from the media group, while Washington mystic Sonia Citron won two more votes.
“Thank God for the rookie year,” Bueckers wrote in an Instagram post. “Give better than the result. Unconditional joy and gratitude, thank you very much. Love my team, they all deserve teammates of the year in my book, without them, there is no possibility. Let’s keep going. Go to the wings!”
Paige Bueckers
Bueckers join Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011), Breanna Stewart (2016), Napheesa Collier (2019) and Crystal Dangerfield (2020), as UConn players, they earned this honor
The Huskimos picked the No. 1 pick in the April draft as she won their 12th National Championship in the same month.
She became the 16th player to win the Rookie of the Year.
The Bueckers averaged 19.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 33.3 minutes of play in all 36 games, while the floor hit 47.4% and 33.1% deep and 88.8% foul line.
Bueckers lead all WNBA rookies, assists
The Bueckers lead all WNBA rookies in total points (692), scores per game, total assists (194) and assists. She also ranked seventh (57) in shooting (259) and steals.
In the history of WNBA rookie, her 692 points ranks third in history. She also ranked third among WNBA rookies with 194 assists and is the only player to finish the top 10 in each game.
The Bueckers scored 44 points against the Los Angeles Sparks on August 20 for the WNBA single-game rookie record.
She made 17 of 21 (81%) shots from the field, becoming the first player in WNBA history to score 40 or above and scored at least 80% of the shooting percentage from the floor during the game.
Although Wings ended the regular season with a 10-34 record, it proved throughout the year that Barras has a bright future with the Minnesota.
