Paige Bueckers in unfamiliar territory for Minnesota homecoming with Wings

Wings rookie Paige Bueckers grew up watching the Minnesota Lynx build a dynasty and dreaming of one day playing in the WNBA.

Her dream realized, the Hopkins, Minn., native will be in her home state Wednesday to play Minnesota for the second time this season, which began with a 99-84 loss to the Lynx in Arlington on Friday.

Bueckers, in her WNBA debut, recorded 10 points on 30% shooting, seven rebounds and two assists against the defending Western Conference champions. The No. 1 pick in last month’s WNBA draft improved upon that performance Monday night against the Seattle Storm, scoring a team-high 19 points with five rebounds and a team-high eight assists in 37 minutes on the floor.

But the outcome was the same: a 79-71 loss to start the season 0-2.

“We’re just trying to find a level of competitive spirit as a team, and I think that’s growing from game to game,” Bueckers said after the game. “We carry it for quarters and then we have lapses throughout the game that let teams go on runs and get leads and then we’re playing catchup.”

Bueckers knows how to fight through adversity. “Comfort’s not really the thing that I’m looking for,” she said Monday.

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She came back from major injuries during her time at juggernaut UConn, which she helped to its 12th national title last month, and has been intentional about not falling into the comparison trap.

But being down 0-2 as she heads home this week is unfamiliar territory. Bueckers never lost back-to-back games in her four seasons at UConn, where she was a three-time unanimous first-team All-American and the Naismith College Player of the Year as a freshman in 2021. She played in four Final Fours and two NCAA championship games.

Even before UConn, she either won or competed for a state championship in each of her five seasons on varsity (she made the team as an eighth-grader) at Hopkins High School.

In Dallas, she’s part of a Wings organization that finished 9-31 last season and has posted a winning record only once since relocating to Dallas in 2016. Ahead of the season, Bueckers acknowledged she isn’t at UConn or Hopkins anymore.

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“I’ve been extremely blessed and fortunate to be in great situations in high school and in college,” Bueckers said at the team’s media day May 7. “It’s different in the W. You don’t see teams going undefeated. You don’t see a lot of single losses, which is something that the teams I’ve been playing on have not been accustomed to.”

The Wings were tied with the Lynx at halftime in the season opener before losing control of the game in the third quarter, a lesson they hope to carry into Wednesday’s game at Target Center to get their first win of 2025.

For Bueckers, Dallas’ lackluster start is just another obstacle to overcome.

“It’s definitely going to be an adjustment,” she said. “You never want to get used to losing, but you want to get used to learning from games.”

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