The WNBA’s fandom seems to keep growing with each passing year. New stars come to the league and elevate the standard, and consequently, the league’s popularity. Last year, it was Caitlin Clark; this year, it’s Paige Bueckers, and Dwayne Wade has become a huge fan of her.
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Bueckers, selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 Draft, won Rookie of the Year after a stellar campaign, in which she averaged 19.2 points per game, with a 47% field goal percentage. The Wings, sadly, had a 10-34 record, finishing last in the league. Buecker’s rise has been their sole bright spot for the season.
Wade, on his podcast, discussed how Bueckers has been “winning in life”, emerging victorious in the NCAA with UConn in April, only to become a global phenomenon, thanks to the WNBA, in just six months. Then, Wade admitted that he doesn’t know Paige Bueckers too well. He’s just a fan, but he would love to be more.
“I’m just a really big fan, but I’m like, she just looks cool to me, bro. Like, I wanna be her friend. She just looked that kind of cool,” Wade said.
“But the way she passes it on to everything and everybody else makes her even cooler. Like, when she gets on the microphone, what she’s saying, and how she says it, you know, how she stands? She stands on business.”
Wade, a three-time NBA champion, then brought up Bueckers’ mindset, as he recalled her altercation with the Sparks’ Kelsey Plum. She trash-talked, told her she would put her in her place, and did just that against one of the established greats in the WNBA. Wade simply couldn’t believe that a rookie could do that.
“Smells so cold to me, bro, I mean, yeah, rookie of the year, I mean, it’s just the beginning of her in her pro career, and all the awards that she’s going to be up for. Just the way she plays the game. She’s seamless, she’s effortless.”
Bueckers’ basketball IQ has been praised when she was in school, and her gameplay in the WNBA proves why. She has elite playmaking abilities and is strong in both offense and defense. With a better team next season, she could be an even bigger threat. Could she actually be the new face of the WNBA in the future?
