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Second-year Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers has kept a level head through the ups and downs since transitioning from college to the WNBA. Through trials and tribulations, whether it may be coaching changes or adapting to new environments like Unrivaled, Bueckers appears to be enjoying the journey thus far.
Sitting down with Complex’s Speedy Mormon recently, the 24-year-old Bueckers revealed where she wants to be in five years, both personally and professionally. In true Bueckers fashion, the former UConn Huskies great didn’t sugarcoat it.
“I want to be a winner,” Bueckers said of her basketball future. “And, for me, [I] wanna win WNBA championships. I want to win championships in Unrivaled. I want to become an Olympian. I think that’s the highest level you can represent yourself and represent your country, so those are things I want to accomplish.”
READ MORE: Latest WNBA Mock Draft Has Wings Following Unrivaled Blueprint for Paige Bueckers
Bueckers is thinking bigger, too.
She doesn’t just want basketball to be a sport she plays. She wants to use it as a lifeline to help other people succeed in life, regardless of what circumstances they may be going through, both personally and professionally, regardless of who they may be or how they may be connected to basketball or not in some fashion, she said.
“[I want to] continue to use basketball as an outlet and a platform to try to help this world become a better place, continue to connect with different people, connect with different communities, keep growing in my faith and just [use] basketball as a tool.”
Bueckers acknowledges that she’s in a rare position among most athletes to be a voice for those who can’t express who they really are, so she wants to continue to hone in on that.
“I feel like I’ve been so blessed,” Bueckers said. “It’s a blessing to bless others, and I feel like giving is huge in what I want to keep doing. And just being the best teammate, being the best teammate, I can be and continue to get better at basketball, too.”
Bueckers appears to be well on her way to doing exactly that. This past season, she won the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year Award despite Dallas failing to reach the postseason and having to clean house for its coaching staff.
Bueckers, though, seems ready for the challenges ahead and isn’t phased whatsoever by any backlash that could come her way should Dallas’s rebuild continue to take a considerable amount of time.
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