Paige Bueckers endures a loss to the Minnesota Lynx in her first WNBA game, calls it ‘a starting point’

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Paige Bueckers’ family was here Friday night. Some former teammates.

Oh. And nearly 7,000 of her newest friends.

Bueckers, former Hopkins and UConn star, about to begin her WNBA career, prompted the city of Hopkins to change its name to Paige Bueckers on Friday.

Her former high school had a watch party. But at College Park Center, on the campus of the University of Texas-Arlington, a packed house gave Bueckers, making her WNBA debut for the Dallas Wings, a coming-out party.

After it was over, after the Lynx had pulled away in the second half for a 99-84 victory, the emotions were mixed.

“The first one’s always the hardest, usually,” Bueckers said.

Making her first start on a significantly revamped Wings squad, Bueckers had a solid outing. She scored 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting. She pulled down seven rebounds, had two assists.

“You have to have a starting point,” said Bueckers, who, like Caitlin Clark last year, was a big part of the league’s publicity buildup this spring even before she had played a game. “You have to have a foundation to build on.”

She looked like she belonged on the floor, comfortable in her role, though she definitely noticed the step up in the speed of the game, the shorter nature of the shot clock. The pace of everything. “And then there’s a level of physicality, of course,” she said. “That’s a level up from college. The size at that [guard] position is a little bit different.”

She flashed some speed early, getting Lynx guard Karlie Samuelson on her heals before darting to the hoop. But the shot didn’t fall, something Bueckers was still thinking about long after the game.

“I should have made the first one,” she said.

She had four points, two boards and a block in the first quarter. She had only two turnovers in 30 minutes.

She fit in.

There was a moment, coming out of a timeout, when she and Napheesa Collier, both former UConn players and once teammates on a Team USA 3x3 team, talked on the court. Collier said she was just congratulating Bueckers on having arrived in the league. Bueckers called it an old, friendly UConn chat.

This on a night when Collier started her MVP campaign with 34 points while Bueckers’ career just getting started.

“Being able to get to my spot? I thought that happened,” she said. “Shot just didn’t go in tonight. But I can’t control that. So, control the controllables, try to get better every day.”

It will only get more interesting next week, when Dallas comes to Minnesota for a rematch. Before Friday’s game, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was asked how she felt about a town in Minnesota changing its name to Paige Bueckers, a player for a Lynx opponent.

“She’s from Minnesota,” Reeve said. “That’s the way it should be. I think it’s wonderful.”