UConn star guard Paige Bueckers. The first overall pick in the WNBA Draft will soon wear a Dallas Wings jersey. NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards reports on the star power she brings to North Texas sports.
When Paige Bueckers takes the court at College Park Center on UT Arlington’s campus, many are hoping it’ll be the momentum the Dallas Wings need to recover from a tough season.
Some hope it could also be the momentum DFW needs to push women’s sports into the spotlight.
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WATCH HEREThe Wings selected Bueckers as the first overall pick in the WNBA Draft Monday.
The star guard led the UConn Huskies to the national championship on April 6.
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SIGN UP “It’s a really big deal at a really big time. Because not only are you getting what we all hope is a generational player for the Wings, they’re coming off a very poor season as far as on-the-court play,” said Kevin Hageland, host of K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan.
Hageland said University of Connecticut grad Paige Bueckers, with her 2.3 million Instagram followers, should only add momentum to a team that’s been rapidly growing its fan base.
The team sold out season ticket memberships in 2024 and 2025.
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Next year, the Wings will move to a new venue at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, with the potential to seat 10,000 fans.
“You have a player that maybe is going to be right up there with Clark and Reese and anyone else you want to throw out there as the new faces of the WNBA,” said Hageland.
“It's a little bit of a pendulum swing on the large scale,” said Dallas Trinity FC Dori Araiza.
Araiza said the excitement around Bueckers’ arrival in Dallas comes at a pivotal time. She hopes it will grow fan bases for teams like hers as more people take notice of women on the court and field.
“Women's sports and professional women's sports, in particular, are still so new when compared to men, and there's a large audience that just don't even really know much about it. So the more we can talk about it and share how amazing it is and people get a taste of it, they come back for more,” she said.
The Wings open their season at home on May 16.
