UConn star and national champion Paige Bueckers inked a three-year deal with the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled Sunday, on the eve of the WNBA Draft.
Bueckers, the expected number one overall pick in the WNBA Draft, will earn more in her first year in the Unrivaled league than in her first four seasons in the WNBA.
Bueckers put an exclamation point and ended her storied career at UConn, winning the National Championship. In 38 games in her senior season, she averaged 19.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. She shot a red-hot 53.4 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from 3-point range.
By joining the Unrivaled league, Bueckers provides herself with a platform to hoop during the WNBA offseason and be rewarded handsomely with a bigger contract. As stated previously, Bueckers’ first-year salary for the 10-week Unrivaled campaign will exceed what she would make in four years of her WNBA rookie contract, sources said. If Bueckers is the top pick in the draft, she is scheduled to earn $78,831 in her first year, according to the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
The Unrivaled league was founded by WNBA players Naphessa Collier and Breanna Stewart, both who went to the University of Connecticut, in 2023. Their inaugural season finished in March, with Rose beating Vinyl in the championship. Unrivaled exceeded $27 million in revenue, more than double what it projected to investors, sources said.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe offseason number one priority of the league was to add more talented players rather than expanding and adding more teams. Bueckers brings another star box office name to a league that has prided itself in tapping into the top WNBA talent. Her multiyear deal is part of the league’s initiative to build a sustainable offseason product and playing opportunity for WNBA players.
Bueckers is one of the elite women’s basketball players in the world and is widely expected to be drafted by the Dallas Wings with the number one overall pick. She is a significant addition to Unrivaled heading into their second season next year.
