Paige Bueckers’ potential 4-year $300K WNBA deal to be surpassed by Unrivaled in 10 weeks

UConn star Paige Bueckers had already stated her intent to sign with Unrivaled even before the Dallas Wings picked her in the WNBA Draft.

Paige Bueckers’ potential 4-year $300K WNBA deal to be surpassed by Unrivaled in 10 weeks

Soon-to-be Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers signed with Unrivaled

Paige Bueckers finished a stellar season with the UConn Huskies where she fulfilled her dream of winning the NCAA national title. The superstar now heads to the WNBA Draft where she is touted to be the first overall pick. If the Dallas Wings pick her, they will hand her a four-year contract.

The contract will be around the $300,000-340,000 range, which means, she will earn a starting salary of $78,831. It is absurdly low when compared to the NBA. It is also undeserving considering the level of attention Bueckers brings to the game of women’s basketball.

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This will be the last year of the current CBA. After a new one comes into play, rookies entering the league next season will earn significantly more. However, she already earns a lot more through her endorsement deals and therefore, shed any doubt that she was going to hold the league hostage and sign next year.

Then there is the Unrivaled League where the 23-year-old is holds equity. Since the league can only sign players who turn professional, they could not sign her as a player. Now that Paige Bueckers will sign a professional deal in the next couple of days, they decided to jump the queue and make it official.

Breaking: Paige Bueckers, projected to go No. 1 in tomorrow’s WNBA draft, has signed a 3-year deal with Unrivaled, sources tell ESPN. Her first-year salary with Unrivaled exceeds what she would make in her entire four-year rookie scale contract in the W.

Kendra Andrews wrote

ESPN’s Kendra Andrews broke the news that Bueckers’ first-year salary from Unrivaled will be more than her four-year WNBA contract. This means the UConn star will earn more from 10 weeks of work than if she played four years in the biggest league in the country.

Paige Bueckers could drive Dallas Wings to playoffs

The WNBA Draft will commence on April 14th. If all projections are in place and no one gives the Dallas Wings a selection of picks they cannot refuse, Paige Bueckers will wear their cap once her name is called. When she eventually winds up in Dallas, she will not be entering a barren locker room like other No. 1’s have had in the past.

She will have good and experienced teammates in point guard Tyasha Harris, All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale, reigning most improved player in DiJonai Carrington, forwards Maddy Siegrist and NaLyssa Smith along with center Teaira McCowan.

All of them are star players elsewhere which means the Wings are loaded at every position. It is unknown how the starting lineup will look like. But at least they won’t have a problem in scoring and defending throughout the game.

Bueckers’ efficiency, playmaking, awareness and defense could be the missing piece of this puzzle. The team is completely new, therefore, they might have some growing pains. But once they figure it out, they could streak to the playoffs in Bueckers’ rookie season.

Bueckers can transform Wings’ image

The Dallas Wings have forever been known as a team that is not getting things to fall in place. They have had Ogunbowale over the past six seasons who had Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally and others beside her. Yet, they have never made it past the second round of the playoffs.

All of this have had an impact on the team’s stature. Fans do not consistently fill out their 7000-seater home arena. They do not purchase enough merchandise to support the team. Nor have they shown interest to buy tickets over opponent fans.

Paige Bueckers could change that for the better. She has a huge fan following on social media and along with her stature as a generational talent, could bring many of those fans back to the College Park Center. She can help build a consistent fan base who can keep growing as the team starts to become succesful.

Then after two seasons when the Wings move to the larger Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, all of that success will help the team grow in terms of revenue. Even if she does not have Caitlin Clark‘s crowd pulling powers, Bueckers still has enough power to help change the fortunes of this franchise.