"It's really not that hard to educate yourself": When Paige Bueckers cleared misconceptions on NIL deals amid looming WNBA decision

UConn star Paige Bueckers has rampaged through the 2025 NCAA Tournament, leading the No. 2-seeded Huskies to their 16th Final Four in the last 17 seasons after a dominant win against the No. 1-seeded USC Trojans in the Elite Eight on Monday evening.

Bueckers was eligible for the 2024 WNBA Draft but remained at UConn for an extra year despite being a projected top-10 pick.

Speculation raged that Bueckers had remained in college basketball due to her massive NIL deals with global brands like Bose, Nike, and Gatorade, which, according to On3, give her a valuation of $1.5 million. She sits at No. 3 among women student-athletes on the On3 NIL 100 list.

During a 2024 segment of "Togethxr," Bueckers castigated college basketball and WNBA fans who held on to the narrative about why she stayed at UConn for an extra year.

"Ever since I announced, you just look at the comments and they're like, 'Yeah, she's staying because she's gonna make so much more money staying in college than in the WNBA,' and it's just like, you guys have literally no idea. 'Cause like NIL, nothing changes," Paige Bueckers said (16:00 onwards). "It's really not that hard to educate yourself.

"But people create these narratives in their head, and it's so hard to undo it," Bueckers added.'"'Cause then people just follow those narratives, and then people who don't know anything follow other people who don't know anything, and it's just a bunch of people who know nothing. So it's just impossible. It's like people who are educated obviously know the truth."

When Paige Bueckers broke down NIL deals in the Pros

During the 2024 episode of "Togethxr," Paige Bueckers broke down how NIL deals transition into endorsement deals for student-athletes who go the professional route.

"It's just like once you get to the league, the title changes—it's no longer an NIL deal, it's just an endorsement deal," Bueckers said (16:18 onwards)."But for those brands who want to continue to partner with you, we have it because we performed on the basketball stage. So if we continue to perform as we grow in the league, they're gonna continue to invest in you and continue to wanna work with you."

Paige Bueckers announced her declaration for the draft a few weeks ago. According to ESPN's latest mock draft, she is the front-runner to be the No. 1 pick during the 2025 WNBA Draft after another stellar season for the UConn Huskies.