WNBA Journalist Notes Rumblings Are Paige Bueckers Will Refuse to Play for Wings

The Dallas Wings have the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

Ever since the Wings won this pick in the WNBA Draft lottery, the consensus within the basketball community has been that they will use it to select UConn Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers.

However, WNBA journalist Howard Medgal asserted that, according to those who he has spoken to, Bueckers heading to Dallas later this year is far from guaranteed.

During a January 8 appearance on the Hoffman Women’s Sports show, Medgal said, “I have reported over at the IX Newsletter that there is a widely held belief around the league that [Bueckers] is going to go full Eli Manning.”

What Medgal means by this is, per his aforementioned IX Newsletter, “Back in the spring of 2004, a franchise quarterback entered the NFL Draft: Eli Manning. The San Diego Chargers held the top overall pick. There was only one problem for the Chargers: Manning didn’t want to play for them.

“Instead, Manning let them know via his agent that he would not play for the Chargers. On draft day, about an hour after San Diego picked Manning, they traded him to the New York Giants for New York’s first pick (fourth overall),” Medgal added.

“I asked eight WNBA talent evaluators what chance they put on Bueckers’ representatives attempting the same maneuver as Eli Manning. Estimates ranged from 90% to 200%.”

So essentially, Medgal is stating that he believes Bueckers could use her leverage (such as the potential to return to UConn for one more season) to avoid getting drafted by Dallas, which adds another compelling layer to the case for her returning to the Huskies.

Perhaps who the Wings take with their top pick is going to be more complicated than many had initially believed.