Injured UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers to bypass early WNBA draft entry, return to Huskies for 2023-24 season

STORRS, Conn. — UConn star Paige Bueckers, the 2020-21 women's college basketball national player of the year, said Thursday that while she will be age-eligible to declare for the 2023 WNBA draft, she will return to the Huskies for the 2023-24 season despite being sidelined this upcoming season with an ACL injury.

«I'm not leaving. That is not in question,» Bueckers told reporters on Thursday in her first media appearance since her August injury. «People asked me, 'What are you thinking about fifth year, COVID year, redshirting this year.' I'm not thinking too far ahead about that at all. But I will be playing college basketball again.»

Bueckers, a junior who took the college basketball scene by storm her freshman season at UConn, will have three years of eligibility remaining following the 2022-23 campaign.

In addition to earning just about every national accolade imaginable (including the Nancy Lieberman Award, Naismith Player of the Year and the Wooden Award), the Minnesota native became one of the most prominent faces in the sport as the NCAA loosened regulations surrounding name, image and likeness opportunities, something she will continue to be able to take advantage of.

Bueckers' ACL tear was a devastating blow for the point guard after she'd missed 19 games across November and February last season with a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear in her left knee. She returned in time for the NCAA tournament, where she helped propel 2-seed UConn to its first national title game appearance since 2016, which the Huskies lost to No. 1 overall seed South Carolina.

Bueckers said that prior to her ACL tear, she was feeling «really good» physically and was eager for the season to start. Then came the fateful