9 Issues to Know About UConn Basketball Star Paige Bueckers Proper Now

This angle was apparent earlier within the 2025 event, when USC star JuJu Watkins tore her ACL, ending her season. Bueckers, who’s all too acquainted with the “devastation” that comes from that have, made positive to attach along with her. “I reached out to her providing my assist and prayers and letting her know that we’ve exchanged numbers now, so we’re locked in,” Bueckers stated, per USA At present. “No matter she wants mentally bodily, to vent, ask questions.”

3. She was as soon as teammates with Caitlin Clark.

Two of the largest names in ladies’s basketball—they usually weren’t all the time rivals: Whereas many of us might keep in mind the showdown between the 2 powerhouses throughout 2024’s Closing 4, Bueckers and Caitlin Clark had been truly teammates for a quick time a couple of years in the past. They each performed for Group USA within the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup—and received gold. The truth is, Bueckers was even named MVP of the event, partially on account of her function serving to her staff win within the additional time ultimate.

“Since I’ve identified her, since she was in center faculty, she’s all the time labored that very same means, she’s all the time had that fireside, she’s all the time been an excellent chief, and I actually truthfully couldn’t be happier for her and the yr she’s had,” Clark instructed SNY going into 2024’s Closing 4.

4. Bueckers makes use of her platform for advocacy.

After profitable the ESPY for Finest Girls’s School Athlete in 2021, Bueckers used her acceptance speech as a chance to advocate for Black athletes. “As a white lady who leads a Black-led sport,” she stated on stage, “I need to shed a lightweight on Black ladies. They don’t get the media protection they deserve. They’ve given a lot to this sport, the neighborhood, and society as a complete, and their worth is simple.”

Bueckers additionally makes use of her social media platforms to attract consideration to racism, police brutality, and social injustice. It’s private for Bueckers, whose youthful brother Drew is Black. She captioned a carousel of images of Drew promising, “I’m going to work for change, little brother. I need you to develop up in a world that accepts you for who you might be.”

5. She utilized to trademark the nickname “Paige Buckets.”

Bueckers will need to have seen a chance when the NCAA started permitting student-athletes to earn a living from their identify, picture, and likeness (NIL) in 2021. In response to Sports activities Illustrated, she utilized to trademark the time period “Paige Buckets” to promote merch tagged along with her apt nickname (particularly “shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms,” in response to the trademark utility). It seems just like the trademark has since been deserted, however now that UConn is again within the Closing 4 for a report twenty fourth time, it might be time to revive the plan so Bueckers’s followers can get some critical swag.

6. And she or he already has some fairly candy sponsors and partnerships.

Bueckers has 5.7 million followers throughout Instagram and TikTok mixed, and he or she is could also be among the many highest-paid school athletes. The truth is, she was ranked because the top-earning feminine school athlete of 2024 by NIL Retailer. She’s partnered with a number of noteworthy manufacturers, together with Bose, Uber, Google Chrome, Chegg, Intuit, Dunkin’, CeraVe, and even the brand new ladies’s basketball league Unmatched. She’s additionally sponsored by Gatorade and Nike.

7. However her off-the-court routine is fairly chill.

Regardless of her fame, Bueckers takes a laid-back, down-to-earth method to caring for her hair and pores and skin, holding her routine quick and candy and choosing drugstore staples quite than super-luxe merchandise. Her nighttime routine begins with a bathe since all that train drains her hair—to say nothing of the dye (yep, that blond hue isn’t pure, as reported by Attract!) and her typical on-court coiffure (face-framing French braids paired with a ponytail). “Between the braids, the coloring, the sweat, I simply need to be sure that it’s as wholesome as attainable,” she beforehand instructed SELF.