Wings select UConn's Paige Bueckers No. 1 in 2025 WNBA draft - ESPN

NEW YORK — UConn star and newly minted NCAA champion Paige Bueckers was selected No. 1 by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA draft on Monday night.

Bueckers, a three-time first-team All-American from Hopkins, Minnesota, becomes the sixth player, and first since Breanna Stewart in 2016, to be drafted first overall and win a national championship in the same year. Bueckers led the Huskies to their first NCAA title in nine years last Sunday in her final college game.

«Dallas I'm so excited, a new city, a new start,» Bueckers said. «A fresh start, so let's get it.»

The 2021 national player of the year, Bueckers is also the sixth UConn player to be drafted No. 1, joining a distinguished group of WNBA superstars that includes Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011) and Stewart (2016).

Bueckers' UConn teammates and coach Geno Auriemma were in attendance at the draft, which was held at The Shed in New York in front of hundreds of fans. Bueckers choked up when talking about her former Huskies teammates.

«They mean everything to me. They helped me get through highs and lows,» Bueckers said.

The selection marks a hopeful change of fortune for the Wings, who went 9-31 last season, missed the playoffs and changed coaches. Dallas was rewarded the top pick in November when it won the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history.

«The addition of Paige is another huge momentum-building moment for the Wings franchise and team,» Curt Miller, in his first year as Wings general manager, said in a statement. «Paige is one of the most efficient and decorated players we have seen in the history of the collegiate game.… Tonight is truly a special night for Paige and the Dallas Wings.»

The Seattle