Minnesota native and former Hopkins High School star Paige Bueckers is ready for her next chapter after a whirlwind week that started with her helping UConn win its 12th national championship and ended with her becoming the WNBA's No. 1 draft pick by the Dallas Wings.
“I’m just extremely excited to be there. I’ve only heard great things about the city," Bueckers said of Dallas. “So excited to start that new chapter and be in a new city and explore that and give everything I have to the Wings organization. I know we’re going to do great things, and it’s a fresh start, and I think we’re all ready to do something special.”
The versatile UConn star is the latest Huskies standout to go No. 1, joining former greats Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart.
Bueckers has had a busy time since helping UConn win the title on April 6. She has split her time between New York and Connecticut doing morning and nighttime talk shows. On Sunday, she took part in the Huskies' championship parade.
“I’m glad New York and Storrs are pretty close to each other because there’s been a lot of back and forth,” Bueckers said. “Part of me wants to stay at school, celebrate with the team, be with them, enjoy the last moments of being in Storrs, and the other part of me has to get ready for the next chapter.”
Bueckers got to enjoy the moment Monday night with her UConn teammates and coach Geno Auriemma who were in the audience at the draft, which was held at The Shed in New York. Bueckers choked up when talking about her former Huskies teammates.
“They mean everything to me. They helped me get through highs and lows,” Bueckers said.
For Bueckers, it'll be a quick turnaround for her home state fans. Dallas opens their season against the Lynx at home May 16, and the Lynx home opener will be against the Wings on May 21.
Lynx made a trade
The Minnesota Lynx acquired forward Karlie Samuelson in a trade with the Washington Mystics on Monday for their 2026 first-round draft pick.
Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve says that for much of the offseason, the team was looking for a player that could bolster the perimeter shooting for a team that fell one win short of another WNBA Championship.
"We want to continue on our path of being able to space the floor and give Phee (Napheesa Collier) the space that she needs," Reeve told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News Tuesday. "And so we were looking for a shooter, and we had our sights set on more of a veteran for the 2025 team, as we've done in past years when we've been in a championship window. And, and so we were interested in Karlie Samuelson for probably a few months and just weren't able to get anything done with Washington."
Reeve says as the draft got closer, talks between the two teams heated up.
"We took a swing at it this weekend and see what we could do in terms of getting a deal done, and we asked what their price was and we found a way to come up with it," she explains.
The 6-foot Samuelson has career averages of 5.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game over six WNBA seasons. She scored a career-best 8.4 points per game last year, her first with the Mystics, while shooting 39.8% from 3-point range to rank 13th in the league. Samuelson was originally signed by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2018.
The Lynx acquired a different 2026 first-round pick in a separate trade with the Chicago Sky on Sunday in exchange for their first-rounder — 11th overall — this year.
With the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Lynx selected 19-year-old Anastasiia Olairi Kosu who is from Kurk, Russia.
"We think she has some real potential that we're very curious to get our eyes on in training camp and see how things go," Reeve said about her.
With the No. 24 overall pick the Lynx selected Dalayah Daniels and selected Bueckers' UConn teammate Aubrey Griffin with the No. 37 pick, who Reeve says has big upside but battled a lot of injuries.
"We look to the future for Aubrey to, when she gets healthy, to be a part of the Lynx," Reeve adds.