US EditionPaige Bueckers Scores 44 Points, Sets WNBA Rookie Record in Dallas Wings’ Loss
Paige Bueckers tied the WNBA rookie scoring record with 44 points on 17-of-21 shooting while leading Dallas Wings in a one-point loss to Los Angeles Sparks.
- Wednesday night, Dallas Wings rookie guard Paige Bueckers scored 44 points to tie the WNBA rookie single-game mark in Los Angeles, but the Wings lost 81-80 to the Los Angeles Sparks on Kelsey Plum's buzzer-beater.
- As the 2025 draft's top pick, Paige Bueckers matched Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper's inaugural-season rookie scoring mark set in 1997.
- Displaying extreme efficiency, Paige Bueckers shot 17-of-21, including perfect 4-of-4 threes and 6-of-6 free throws, and scored the Wings' final 13 points.
- The defeat eliminated the Dallas Wings from playoff contention and dropped their season record to 9-27, but Bueckers remains a presumptive Rookie of the Year frontrunner for the remaining eight games.
- Her performance, the season's highest single-game total, drew praise from NBA players as the WNBA's attendance hit 2,501,609 on 8/20/25 and ABC viewership averaged 1.43 million.
25 Articles
25 Articles
Caitlin Clark Fans School Ryan Clark For Latest Paige Bueckers Comparison
“Paige Buckets.” That’s what fans are calling her now, and honestly, it fits. Against the LA Sparks, she delivered a historic performance: 44 points on a ridiculous 81% shooting, the first of its kind in WNBA history. It should have been her night, another defining Paige in Bueckers’ young WNBA career. But, as always happens on the internet, the spotlight didn’t stay put. Instead of simply celebrating the Wings’ star’s brilliance, the conversati…
Paige Bueckers scores 44 points, sets WNBA rookie record
LOS ANGELES — Paige Bueckers put together not just one of the best shooting performances by a WNBA rookie, but one of the best performances ever by any player. The top pick in this year’s draft scored 44 points in the Dallas Wings’ 81-80 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night, the most points by a rookie in WNBA history and the most points in a game by any player this season. Bueckers sank 17 of 21 shots, including 4 of 4 from 3-point…
Now Imagine What Paige Bueckers Could Do With Better Teammates
What can’t Paige Bueckers do? What problems can’t she solve? Where does her bag end? Does it? For 39 minutes and 59 seconds of Wednesday night’s Wings-Sparks game, answers were hard to come by. The learning curve has looked awfully flat for the first overall pick in her rookie season. Varied and efficient, Bueckers’s game has an almost soothing quality to it. Her cool sense of pace means that she sometimes looks superimposed onto a court, like …
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