The number 1 WNBA draft pick as the arrival of Pagi Beukers for Dallas Wings is a new era
New York – It is rare for Pagi Beukers to hurry. But exceptions are made when dreams come true.
Bueckers did not have to wait long to hear his name 2025 WNBA DraftTen minutes after the festival started officially, WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert gave the most approximate, and anticipated, evening reports: Dallas Wings selected Bukers as the number 1 pick. Nevertheless, a master beukers who control the speed on the floor could not slow down the moment. Compared to what he had imagined, he said that the whole scene was “much faster than what I thought.”
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She rose from her table stationed at the center of the draft hall and shared her first hug as a professional basketball player with her former Uconn team partner AZZI FUDD. A hug with his college coach, Jeno Oor, came forward. Then family. A sale of audience, many of which were wearing his jersey, rejoiced. Some of his other Huskis team colleagues made him happy, and the beukers became emotional while discussing his impact on him.
It was clear that a franchise was changed – quickly. Everything drafts everything fast at night.
Beukers have worked to work in Dallas, of course, to help the wings finish with their third winning season in 15 years, winning their first title since Moving from Tulsa in 2010 and finally in Dallas in 2016.
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Still it was Monday night when new dreams were also created. “I know we are going to do great work,” said the beukers. “This is a new beginning, and I think we are all ready to do something special.”
Bueckers did not reveal the work ahead of him as a reconstruction, but one “where we are, build from there.” She is joining a franchise to re -establish herself in the new era of WNBA.
Wings consists of a new coach, Chris Cocense and the new general manager, Kurt Miller. They are planning a step from Arlington to the city Dallas in 2026, which ranged from about 6,000 to 9,000 sits in their area. A new practice feature is in tasks, he has a more national partnership pair than the previous season, and has announced a new local TV deal last month.
“Obviously, from the perspective of a basketball, he is transformative,” said Greg Bib, CEO and President of Wings. “From the court, she will move the needle for us, and I think this is the new era in the WNBA of the players coming to the league that can really have a true effect that you can see and feel, and she will do so for Dallas Day One.”
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Day 1 may officially be the beukers draft night, but this can also happen when Wings won the lottery in November. A few days after learning, he had a top pick, the franchise sold the season tickets for the second consecutive season. Bib said that “there was little doubt who would be the number 1 pick in the draft”. It was reminiscent of the previous season when Indiana fever selected the former Iowa sensation Ketleen Clarke.
“Very quickly, it was only Pagi and Paiggy,” Miller said. “He is a special player.” He was clear, they were never going to deal with the number 1 pick.
More than 1,000 people gathered in the wings house of the college park center, at a distance of about 1,500 miles from where the Beukers heard her name in New York, which was to celebrate the pending arrival of the bucklers. Like the scene in New York, fans wearing Bukers Hakis T-shirt and Ucon Jersey were scattered throughout the time. At any time the beekers were shown on the jumbotron, fans waved the towels and broke into the cheers.
And that too before he was officially named the franchise.
Almost immediately after her selection, Wings Guard Erek Ogunbole tweeted, “It’s time.” For weeks, Ogunbole was carrying his new backcort partner to social media to share his excitement. Bueckers, who achieved 19.9 points and 4.6 per game in the last season in Uconn, would make life immensely easier at four-time all-stars. In Dallas, the best player in 2024 is the depth of the feather with the best player Dijonai Carrington and the sharp-shooter Ty Harris. The entire roster stands to benefit from the arrival of beukers.
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“He improves everyone,” Miller said.
Bueckers attended the WNBA draft last year as a fan, seen as Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl, their former Uconn team colleagues. When those festivals were opened, she was sitting behind the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bueckers said she was in the “role of tributaries”.
Perhaps she was playing her last time.
The three-time all-American and former Nismith Player of the Year, the Beukers, had a national title of his historic college with a national title exactly eight days before the draft was drafted. Since then, she has appeared on the day and late night TV. He attended a championship parade on the eve of the draft. She is accustomed to shutting back and forth in the city from Star, Con, New York, an energy that can be only one top WNBA possibility in the middle of April.
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“I am walking on great smoke, grateful smoke,” said beukers. “This will not do business for anything, I am very blessed.”
Bueckers said that she infection in her next stage, it helps that so many Uconn great people have shown her a way. Not even after five minutes after the name of the beukers, a diana Raksi highlight package was broadcast inside the shed at the Hudson Yard. Like Bueckers, Taurasi was the number 1 pick when selected in 2004.
“He is a risk -taking, and you will have to live with some risks, because most times they actually pay,” said ORSPN telecast. “And that at the end of the day, just keep in mind, she wants to win as much as you do, and she will spend more time in the gym than you.”
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The WNBA training camps begin in less than two weeks, and the regular season of Wings opens against Minnesota Links on 16 May, which was last year’s final runner-up. Bueckers will be ready. And the fans of Dallas will be ready for him. After less than 30 minutes of his new residence of Bueckers, Bueckers Wings shirts and a jersey selling stand was already on. A fan later unveiled a Lego wall of his face.
A person is waiting for a person this week when the beukers arrive in Texas. But Monday night was about taking in a real moment.
As a child, the Beukers wrote a letter stating, “Pagi is 5 years old. Paiggy has blue eyes. Pagi likes basketball.”
“Like” has become love. The veins became enthusiastic. A college player became a supporter.
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“Bitwatch knowing that my journey in Uconn is over, but excited for the next one,” said Bueckers. “We only think that the best is ahead.”
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This article appeared originally Athletic,
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