UConn women’s basketball superstar Paige Bueckers will try to finish her illustrious college career this weekend with an elusive prize—a national championship—after determining the financial upside of remaining in school is not worth forgoing the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Whereas fellow projected lottery picks Azzi Fudd, her UConn teammate, and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles recently announced they will play in college next season, the Wooden Award finalist will enter the WNBA later this month, likely as the first overall pick.
In her NCAA send-off, Bueckers and No. 2 seed UConn will face No. 1 seed UCLA in the Final Four on Friday night before a potential title game Sunday. The fifth-year senior, who will leave one year of eligibility at UConn unused, has managed to lead the Huskies back to the biggest stage in women’s college basketball while overcoming a past haunted by injury and juggling substantial NIL obligations. Despite owning a record 11 women’s college basketball national titles, UConn last won the trophy in 2016—the program’s longest drought since winning its first championship in 1995.
Bueckers’ influence on the Huskies program was made clear when head coach Geno Auriemma, who publicly postures himself as a no-nonsense leader, appeared to tear up when discussing her impending exit.
“I’ve admired that in her forever, that she believes in herself, whether you believe in her or not,” Auriemma recently told reporters. “And I happen to believe in her 100,000%.”
Bueckers enters the Final Four with three straight 30-point games as she looks to cement her name as one of the best players in program history—a tall order since the powerhouse program includes greats such as Maya Moore, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi and Napheesa Collier.
There are just eight days between the April 6 national title game and the April 14 draft. Bueckers reiterated last week to ESPN that she will be there, ending speculation that she could decide not to declare for the draft like some of her peers.
Her entrance means that she will be locked into the rookie wage scale of the current WNBA collective bargaining agreement, which calls for her to earn a salary of less than $80,000 in first year. The players union opted out of the CBA in October and is currently negotiating a new one to go into effect after the upcoming season. The next CBA will likely pay lottery picks more.
Bueckers can cushion a lower rookie wage scale by taking her deep bag of endorsement deals to the pros—she has already established a slew of corporate relationships with major brands including Nike through NIL.
There are parallels between the Minnesota native’s UConn exit that leaves eligibility on the table and last year’s departure of guard Nika Mühl, a close friend now on the Seattle Storm who shined in last year’s tournament. It has been about 13 months since Bueckers and Mühl sat next to each other at a press conference, both crying, as the latter explained the pull of the pros for the first time publicly.
The moment highlighted how finances are only part of the equation for athletes in the NIL era.
“It’s just a feeling,” Mühl said through tears, “when it’s time for you to leave.”
