Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen on first honor

Paige Bueckers has been through injuries during her college career, but the stars aligned the Minnesota native would be picked by the Lynx star and play for her coach.Kiki Iriafen was in a dustup with Sophie Cunningham in her preseason opener, a valuable lesson she said, as she embarked on an All-Star campaign.Sonia Citron was the lone rookie to participate in Friday’s festivities. The former Notre Dame star received a nice gesture from vet Sabrina Ionescu.

INDIANAPOLIS — Call it adrenaline, “excitement,” Kiki Iriafen made a loud introduction to the WNBA on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor, drawing a roar of boos from Indiana Fever fans.

Sophie Cunningham had won position for an offensive rebound and, as she corralled it, Iriafen’s right arm stretched across Cunningham’s chest. The ball bounced free and their momentum carried them to the floor with Cunningham having an assist via Iriafen.

When Cunningham popped up, she went up to Iriafen and said, “You don’t (expletive) do that.” It did two things: Showed Iriafen wasn’t afraid of the moment in her first game but also served as a valuable lesson.

Her rookie season has turned out fine. Iriafen is one of three rookies named WNBA All-Stars alongside Washington Mystics teammate and former Notre Dame star Sonia Citron and former UConn star Paige Bueckers, of the Dallas Wings.

“I think I was just really excited that game. There was no (malicious) intent or anything (it was) my first ever WNBA game,” Iriafen said of the preseason opener, Cunningham’s introduction to Fever fans. “For me, I think I just learned to settle down a little bit, ‘slow is pro,’ and kind of just getting a taste of what the pace is in the WNBA.

“I think the biggest thing that I learned about myself is that I’m a competitor and I just give it my all in everything that I do.”

The Mystics are just 11-11 but the two rookies and fellow All-Star Brittney Sykes have had a surprise start to the season. Iriafen is averaging 11.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and has seven double-doubles, four of which came in her first five games. Her rebounds averages are fourth best in the league.

Citron, who averages 14.1 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and her classmates echoed the biggest challenges of transitioning to the WNBA from college, which includes rolling straight into their professional careers in a month’s time.

“Just the schedule and really learning how to take care of your body and your mind,” Citron said. “Playing every other day, the volume of games that we have, that’s one thing that really took getting used to.”

Though Iriafen, a star at Stanford who played one season alongside Lexie Hull before transferring to USC and playing alongside JuJu Watkins, was also reflective about what’s next for her.

“I think the biggest challenge for me is I’m guarding the best players in the world, the best players in the league, so you can never really have an off night defensively because they’ll really exploit that and just kind of stepping up my basketball IQ,” she said. “I feel like the greatest players have tremendous basketball IQ, so I feel like that’s the next area of growth for me.”

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“There definitely wasn’t a point where we agreed,” Bueckers said. “There’s definitely a lot more that we want as players.”

Bueckers was the clear-cut first pick in April’s draft, and the Wings star hasn’t disappointed. Her 18.4 points per game ranks eighth in the WNBA. She adds 5 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.

The 23-year-old star suffered a torn ACL that caused her to miss the 2022-23 season at UConn, and the year prior tore her meniscus and had tibial plateau fracture. She’s simply thankful for the ability to still be playing.

“It’s super crazy to think about my whole life’s journey up to this point,” she said.

And it isn’t lost on the Minnesota native she was picked to play alongside former UConn star Napheesa Collier, her team captain, whose Lynx coach, Cheryl Reeve, will also be on her bench. Video circulated of Bueckers trying to defend Collier during practice Friday morning.

“Being the little girl that looked up to the Minnesota Lynx, just wanting to be everything that they were and now being coached by Cheryl in the All-Star Game and playing with the best players in the world, it’s just a crazy experience that I’m extremely thankful for,” said Bueckers, who is also teammates with former Huskie Breanna Stewart. “I just never want to take it for granted what I get to do here and be a part of this. I’m just trying to enjoy this as much as I can.”

She’s a seasoned vet, having long been in a spotlight similar to Fever star Caitlin Clark. When they met on July 13, Bueckers had 21 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, making 9 for 15 shots. Clark had nine points but 13 assists as the Fever won 102-83.

The Mystics teammates are both 21. Citron competed in Friday night’s 3-point challenge, a 36.5% 3-point shooter in her first 22 career games. She scored just 19 points in her first round, last among the five shooters.

But that didn’t take away from her weekend. Sabrina Ionescu, who won the 3-point contest, said afterwards she was going to give half of her winnings, valued at 30% of her salary or $62,418 per Spotrac, to Citron (so, she’ll get $31,209 if an even split), who said she was nervous and for having the guts to be the only rookie to participate in Friday night’s events.

“I told Sonia that I would give her half if I won when we were sitting on the bench,” Ionescu said, “being the only rookie, and she was nervous; I was nervous for her. I obviously have to hold up my end of the bargain, so half will go to her. I’ve got to text her and let her know that I’m giving her half of it just for participating. That takes a lot of courage to be able to do that as a rookie, and what she did, and I was really proud of her. Then the other half will go to my foundation to continue to be able to give back to communities that mean a lot to me.”

Said Citron: “It’s amazing to feel that people are seeing the work that I’m putting in and acknowledging that. I definitely wasn’t expecting it but I’m just really grateful for it,” Citron said Friday morning.

And now they’re each 1-for-1 in All-Star game appearances.

“Oh my gosh, it means so much to me. I wasn’t expecting this at all. Coming in my rookie year, I was just hoping to get to play my rookie year and make an impact,” Iriafen said. “So, to be recognized as an All-Star, I’m just super blessed and grateful and to do it with Sonia and Slim (Brittany Sykes) is, I feel like, the most exciting part.”