"Times when you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel": Paige Bueckers reflects on her "dark days" upon Nike signature shoe release 

UConn senior Paige Bueckers will release her own Player Edition colorway with Nike on Saturday. Choosing the Nike G.T. Hustle 3 as her sneaker, the PE is draped with baby blue and lavender hues in the Radial Knit upper coupled with embroidered details such as the area code for UConn's campus and her father's message to her before every game.

A monumental shoe release to say the least, Bueckers enthusiastically had a lot to say in one of the promo vids for her G.T. Hustle 3 campaign.

"It's all a process and it's all a part of your story. Going through injury, there's some dark days, times where you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel," Bueckers said.

The hardships she was alluding to were when she went down with a tibial plateau fracture and a lateral meniscus tear in December 2021 that had her out for 19 games in her second season. Bueckers then suffered a torn ACL in August 2022 that forced her to no basketball activities for a year.

Reminiscing on everything she has done to come back from the aforementioned setbacks, Bueckers elaborated on her thoughts later on in the video.

"It was the most challenging mental period I went through in my life. But, it grew me so much (to) now where I'm at," Bueckers added. "Just to have all these blessings come my way and to see how hard I've worked for them, it makes me super excited to continue to keep working. I'm so fortunate."

With rumblings of a Dallas Wings selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Paige Bueckers is enjoying her final stint as a Huskie. She is averaging 22.0 points a game, 4.5 rebounds and assists apiece and 2.5 steals per game.

Paige Bueckers makes history with first ever Nike PE shoe launch by an NIL athlete

By releasing her own colorway of the Nike G.T. Hustle 3, Paige Bueckers has become the first NIL athlete with a signature PE shoe for the leading sportswear brand.

The 23-year-old is basking in the achievement by gifting her Huskies teammates a pair each.

The Nike G.T. Hustle 3 "Paige Bueckers PE" officially releases on Dec. 7 in Nike's SNRKS App and in retail locations worldwide.