‘I’d Pay to Watch Her Play’: Sue Bird Praises Paige Bueckers’ Rookie Season With Dallas Wings

Grant AfsethSeptember 2, 2025October 21, 2025no comment

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Sue Bird has long been a touchstone for Paige Bueckers’ basketball journey. Now, the Hall of Famer is offering glowing praise for the Dallas Wings guard amid a rookie season that has already entered the WNBA record books.

Bird devoted a recent episode of Bird’s Eye View to breaking down Bueckers’ historic debut year, lauding not just her numbers but the way she’s adapted to the professional game.

“All right, no better way to segue to talking about Paige Beckers than talking about efficiency,” Bird said. “It’s been a little bit of an up and down season for the Wings, but Paige has delivered a standout rookie year with top-tier productivity and historic scoring milestones. … It’s been so fun to watch her learn and adjust to the WNBA in real time.”

Bird added that the ultimate compliment she could give was that Bueckers is worth the price of admission.

“I think the best compliment you can give a player, especially coming from someone like me who gets to go to WNBA games for free, is that I would actually pay to watch them play. And Paige is 100% in that category,” Bird said.

Historic Numbers, Breakthrough Moments

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Bueckers immediately delivered on expectations. She averaged 18.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists across 33 games.

She earned an All-Star starting spot as a rookie — just the eighth in league history — and tied the rookie single-game scoring record with 44 points against the Los Angeles Sparks in August. That performance, which came on 17-of-21 shooting, made her the first WNBA player ever to score 40 or more points while shooting at least 80 percent from the field.

“Now, if we do look at the numbers, she’s fifth in scoring, she’s 10th in assists, and she’s fifth in steals per game,” Bird said. “This makes her the only player in the league who’s in the top 10 in all of those categories. And that’s leaguewide, not just rookies. … Paige dropped 44 points. She did it on 17 for 21 shooting. And she pretty much locked up rookie of the year that night.”

Paige Bueckers’ Mid-Range Mentality

Bird, who built her Hall of Fame career on efficiency and playmaking, pointed to Bueckers’ embrace of the mid-range as proof of her maturity as a scorer.

“Of her 17 made field goals, 13 of them were twos, and half of those were from the mid-range,” Bird said. “As someone whose favorite shot was the pull-up, I’m actually just happy to see that it’s alive and well.”

Bird also linked Bueckers’ game to the broader analytics debate in basketball.

“I don’t think it means eliminating the mid-range completely,” she said. “It can actually be an advantage if you can play there. And obviously, it’s an advantage when you have a player like Paige playing there.”

A UConn Legacy Connection

For Bueckers, Bird’s words carry extra weight. The 23-year-old has often credited Bird for inspiring her to follow the UConn path and for guiding her through setbacks.

“She was somebody I aspired to be when I was young and growing up,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com in August as the Seattle Storm unveiled Bird’s statue outside Climate Pledge Arena. “I followed in her footsteps to UConn, and I’m following in her footsteps again by making it to the WNBA.”

Bueckers added that Bird has been instrumental in shaping her approach to leadership.

“The way she brings people together… She demands a lot, but she supports you and challenges you at the same time,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “That’s something I really admire and something I want to embody as a player myself.”

As Bird summed up, Bueckers is already a player who makes the game worth watching — a compliment that reflects not just numbers on a stat sheet, but a growing legacy of UConn point guard excellence carried into the WNBA.

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Grant Afseth

Senior Writer

Grant Afseth is a Senior Writer for DallasHoopsJournal.com, where he leads in-depth coverage of the Mavericks, Wings, and more. Between a focus on the latest news, closer looks at games, front office strategy, and more, Afseth provides objective coverage. Afseth contributes broader NBA coverage across platforms and has been cited in national outlets for his reporting and analysis. With nearly a decade of journalism experience, Afseth has covered the NBA and WNBA for multiple major outlets, including Athlon Sports, BallIsLife, Sportskeeda, and RG.org. He previously reported on the Indiana Pacers for CNHI’s Kokomo Tribune and the Mavericks for FanNation.

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