Throughout the pre-draft process, speculation swirled about the about the future of Paige Bueckers.
Although Bueckers had expressed her intention to enter the 2025 WNBA Draft, whether she would join the league in 2025 or wait until 2026, after the implementation of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which is expected usher in higher rookie salaries, remained grist for the women’s basketball gossip mill.
Specific to my reporting: no one has suggested Paige won’t declare to me. Declaring for the draft preserves all her options. What I have reported is that she has not decided to go to Dallas yet, no contact with Wings, and has numerous options. More here: https://t.co/ZBOgVqNzLu https://t.co/PxLi9Esvc9
— Howard Megdal (@howardmegdal) March 28, 2025
Bueckers will be in the 2025 draft, all but guaranteed to go No. 1 overall and sign on the dotted line with the Dallas Wings. However, an announcement on the eve of draft served as a reminder of why such rumblings about Bueckers’ future persisted.
According to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, Bueckers is signing a three-year deal with Unrivaled, with a first-year salary that will exceed the total earnings of her four-year WNBA rookie-scale contract. In 2025, her WNBA contract will pay her $78,831; if the new WNBA CBA…
