Something is happening in American culture, and its epicenter, oddly enough, lies in Arlington, Texas.
As the WNBA gains more and more popularity and its fanbase continues to grow, more and more people are becoming acquainted with Dallas Wings superstar guard Paige Bueckers.
She’s becoming a phenomenon of sorts, and it’s likely no coincidence the fact that her arrow and the league’s are both pointed up and to the right at similarly sharp angles. The footprint Bueckers plants is one centered in pure joy. Wholesome moments. Thoughtful banter. And some of the nastiest highlights on a basketball court this side of Luka Dončić.
On social media, her growing throngs of fans are not only getting to know her for her lethal clutch precision but also for her affable personality. Not only for how she wows us on the court, but also for what she stands for off of it.
Everyone loves Paige. Opposing players and coaches seek her out in postgame scrums and go out of their way to gush about her in press conferences. Former teammates love their precious little reunions with her. Even the same game officials she will berate at times when she’s not getting calls can’t help but swoon every now and then.
Yes, that’s Dijaonai Carrington, doing her and Bueckers’ patented handshake after the Wings came back on the Chicago Sky, 96-91, at Dallas’ American Airlines Center. No, there were no hard feelings after Bueckers hit a 3-pointer and blew a kiss in Carrington’s direction on the Sky bench during the game. It’s all love. It’s all that pure joy pent up inside Bueckers that can’t help but find its way out and into the lives of everyone around her.
Bueckers is absolutely magnetic, and she’s beginning to draw in a nation of ball fans like few superstars are able to.
She is gloriously awkward at times. Relatable as hell.
Sometimes it’s a little weirder than the word “awkward” conveys, and the @DallasWings admins know this all too well.
She loves glizzies on off days. Relatable as hell.
She shows youth basketball campers zero mercy.
And she shows her teammates even less mercy during the Wings’ post-practice halfcourt shooting contests.
Bueckers is playfully vindictive when she loses, too.
She’s not polarizing. You can’t be polarizing if everyone you’ve ever met gushes about how highly they think of you.
She’s not Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese, though both of those fierce opponents absolutely adore Bueckers. When she put the media off of those nagging questions about the nature of her relationship with teammate Azzi Fudd before the season started, she set a tone. She wasn’t argumentative. She was open to the exact extent she felt like she needed to be but held firm to her own boundary in a way you can’t do anything but respect.
And let’s not pretend that some her most adorable moments this year (and in years past) haven’t been manufactured by the special brand of chemistry she shares with her longtime teammate.
Look at them. Just look at them.
They go to the tennis.
They’re unhinged.
Even when Fudd isn’t quite in the mood for Bueckers’ shenanigans, they’re still the perfect buddy cop comedy duo.
When Geno Auriemma was on the call for a recent Wings game against the New York Liberty on July 7, Bueckers and Fudd grilled their former coach about just who he was “going to be nice to” on the air.
I asked both of them about a small statistical oddity in June 11’s 85-70 win over the Phoenix Mercury. Bueckers had five assists in the game, and four of them went to Fudd. Fudd had four assists in the game, and three of them went to Bueckers.
“Nice!” Fudd exclaimed softly, raising one hand for a high five, which Bueckers only begrudgingly gave her while rolling her eyes at Fudd’s exuberance.
It was just so authentically them. They’re just pure hoopers and pure souls.
There was another postgame press conference moment that comes to mind, but there are no social posts for this one. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Bueckers and backup center Li Yueru were being interviewed after the Wings’ 112-110 overtime win over the Seattle Storm. Yueru made three winning plays in the final minute of the game, and Bueckers was just beaming for her teammate.
Now, English is not Yueru’s first language, and that’s no secret. She does well with it when given the opportunity, though. As the pair was ushered out of the press conference room and a room full of reporter-types was powering down their recording devices, all we heard was Bueckers congratulating Yueru as only Bueckers can on her contribution to the postgame convesation.
“That’s right, Li! You were speakin’ that Anglish!” Bueckers shouted on her way out the door.
What a treasure, we all thought to ourselves, unless we were unfeeling automatons. We couldn’t help but crack up a little.
It’s no wonder why everyone, in every corner of the women’s game, loves Paige. She’s a connector, and not just with her vision, anticipation and passing. Think back to her acceptance speech for the ESPY for Best Female College Athlete all the way back in 2021.
She gave a heartfelt shout to all the black women in the game and in her life, reminding the media that though 80% of the recipient of WNBA postseason awards in 2020 were black, but those black winners got half the coverage as their white counterparts.
This is a woman with her feet firmly planted on the ground, even when it seems like her head is in the clouds. For Bueckers, it’s not all about Bueckers. She gives of herself and she gives back. She thinks. She advocates for those around her. She makes a difference.
And she’s just so damn fun to watch.