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The Dallas Wings’ All-Star Paige Bueckers was named the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year on Sept. 16, following in the career footsteps of her mentor, Phoenix Mercury legend Diana Taurasi.
Bueckers joined Taurasi and four other players in WNBA history to win an NCAA title, become the No. 1 overall draft and earn WNBA Rookie of the Year within the same year. The others in the elite company are Breanna Stewart of the defending champion New York Liberty, Connecticut Sun veteran and former Mercury forward Tina Charles, and Hall of Famer and Tennessee legend Candace Parker.
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Taurasi retired from the Mercury after 20 years on Feb. 25 this year.
Bueckers received a nearly unanimous 70 out of 72 first-place votes for the award, while the remaining two went to Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron.
Even though Citron was the Mystics’ top scorer and led them to a better regular-season record (16-28) than the league’s worst Dallas (10-34), Bueckers led all rookies in totals of 692 points and 194 assists, plus 5.4 assists per game. In addition, Bueckers finished this season ranked in top 10 averages for points, assists and steals (1.6) in her 36 games played.
After Citron stay relatively close in the running for ROY with Bueckers shortly after the All-Star break, Bueckers essentially locked the award in the Wings’ 81-80 loss at the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 20. Bueckers set the league’s single-game rookie record 44 points on a remarkable 17-of-21 shooting, making her the first player to score over 40 on at least 80% from the field.
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Bueckers had her second-best scoring performance of 35 points and shot 68.2% during a 93-80 loss at the Mercury on June 11. Another stellar outing came against Mercury on July 3 when she scored 23 points on 8-of-11 from the floor in a 98-89 win.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert surprised Bueckers with the Rookie of the Year trophy. Bueckers was handed the award after she danced her way through the backstage celebrity spirit tunnel for her guest appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Paige Bueckers matches Taurasi on rare WNBA Rookie of the Year stat
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