“Paige Bueckers has not been a cut above her peers”: NCAA analyst gives his 2 cents on speculation around UConn star refusing to join Dallas Wings

Over the last few months, Paige Bueckers has been touted as the top pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. Should that scenario play out, she would be a part of the Dallas Wings, who secured the first pick at the draft lottery on November 17, 2024.

However, speculation around Bueckers turning down the opportunity to join the Wings has been rife in recent times. Amidst the speculation, noted women's basketball analyst Robin Lundberg gave his take on the situation on Saturday.

Lundberg brought up Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles, believing she could give Paige Bueckers stiff competition to be the top pick in this year's WNBA draft.

"Miles has been so good, and Paige has not been a cut above her peers," Lundberg said. "The way Paige has been presented, who she's been compared to, it makes you think she's so much better than her peers, when that actually hasn't been the case so far this season at UConn."

Lundberg then went on to address the speculations around the Huskies guard, believing she could face some backlash because of it.

"Paige is a media darling, people love her, she seems like a great young woman," he said. "Obviously, like I said, a terrific player and a star. But, one would think there would be a degree of backlash for pulling a move like that. I guess it just depends on who it is, because (for) other players (there) certainly would (be)."

He clarified that he wasn't blaming Bueckers and said:

"I'm not putting that on Paige, because she hasn't done it, so that's not fair either. I'm just saying how it could be received if those rumblings were indeed true."

Could Paige Bueckers go down the "Eli Manning" route?

In 2004, Eli Manning was the top-ranked quarterback prospect in the NFL draft. Although the San Diego Chargers took him with the top pick in the draft, he publicly admitted that he did not want to play for them, prompting the team to trade him to the New York Giants for the fourth overall pick, Philip Rivers, on draft night.

WNBA analyst Howard Megdal gave his take on speculations surrounding Paige Bueckers, believing she could go down the Manning route in this year's WNBA draft.

"I have reported over at the IX newsletter that there is a widely held belief around the league that she is going to go full Eli Manning," Megdal said.

Paige Bueckers has been one of UConn's top performers this season. Across 15 games, she has averaged 19.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists, helping the Huskies to a 13-2 overall record (6-0 ACC).