Paige Bueckers Ties Cynthia Cooper With Historic Rookie Start

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers reached another milestone in her standout rookie season Wednesday night, scoring 21 points and adding seven assists in an 88–85 loss to the Atlanta Dream.

The performance pushed Bueckers to 400 career points and 100 assists, making her just the second player in WNBA history to hit both marks within her first 22 games. She joins four-time champion and two-time MVP Cynthia Cooper, who originally set the record in 1997. Cooper entered the league as a seasoned veteran, while Bueckers has matched the mark as a true rookie.

Bueckers scored nine points in the fourth quarter against Atlanta, attacking the Dream’s drop coverage and taking advantage of the on-ball defender going under screens at times. The goal was to generate more rim pressure than in previous outings to create a steady advantage. She did just that, getting to the rim for multiple and-ones in clutch time.

“Just a little bit of separation on screens. My teammates were doing a really good job of screening and getting me open,” Bueckers said. “They played mostly drop the entire game, so if I got a little bit of advantage—and the posts were hitting threes—it kind of forced them to have to play to that, which opened up the lane a little bit. I just tried to be aggressive, attack the rim, and get to the free throw line.”

Bueckers is averaging 18.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from 3-point range. She leads all WNBA rookies in points, assists and steals, and ranks among league leaders in off-the-dribble jump shot attempts with 7.3 possessions per game — trailing only Caitlin Clark (7.8) and Marina Mabrey (7.4). Among her goals is to focus on getting ot the rim more while balancing her mid-range game.

“A mix and balance of both, I feel like,” Bueckers said. “Not over-penetrating too much, but I do feel like I can get to the paint and rim more, draw contact, and get to the free throw line. But I’ve always loved my midrange jump shot, and I don’t think that’ll ever change. Just trying to find a better balance of both.”

Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said Bueckers’ ability to pressure the paint made a noticeable difference. It’s an area of the game he’d like to see her continue to embrace.

“She got to the rim more,” Koclanes said. “The pull-up is always going to be there, but we talked at halftime about putting more pressure on the paint. With [Brittney Griner] out in the third, that changed things. But I appreciated the way Paige mixed it up and kept attacking.”

Bueckers’ milestone ties her with one of the WNBA’s all-time greats, but under vastly different circumstances. Cooper, 34 at the time, had already played professionally overseas for a decade. Bueckers, 23, entered the league just months after leading UConn to a national title.

Bueckers was named WNBA Rookie of the Month and remains the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year. With 16 games already behind her, the Wings may be just 8-20, but she’s on pace for one of the most productive rookie campaigns in league history, and perhaps more records to come.