2 min read • August 04, 2022
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The Connecticut Huskies announced Wednesday that rising junior star Paige Bueckers suffered a torn left ACL and will miss the entire 2022-23 NCAA women's regular season.
After suffering her second major knee injury in nine months, the Pro Basketball Docs believe it is fair to ask if Bueckers will forgo what will be her final two years of college eligibility at Uconn and go to the WNBA in 2023.
Bueckers will be eligible for the 2023 Draft but is unlikely to be ready for the WNBA season, which begins in May, as ACL repairs typically take at least 9-12 months to return from.
Bueckers played 11 games and helped the Huskies to the NCAA Championship Game where they lost to South Carolina, led by National Player of The Year Aliyah Boston, who will also (finally) be eligible for the 2023 WNBA Draft.
Because of the lack of specifics on the injury, it is unclear whether the torn ACL was related to the December 2021 injury.
Unlike in the NBA, the WNBA has strict eligibility requirements for the Draft: players have to be (1) 22 years old the calendar of the draft and/or (2) graduated or about to graduate from a 4-year institution.
Bueckers, who will turn 22 next October, has felt the brunt of these much-maligned rules.
She was dominant for the Huskies from the jump, becoming the first women's player to win the Naismith and Wooden Awards as a freshman behind 20 points, 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 steals on 52.4 % shooting while leading Uconn to the Final Four.
She would have been in contention to go No. 1 overall, but was forced to return to Uconn and subsequently suffered two significant injuries over the next year.
Players in recent years have left early, including 2019 and 2021 No. 1 picks Jackie Young and Charli Collier, but most women have to wait until they finish their senior season to go to the WNBA, which helps schools like Uconn and South Carolina put together dominant 3-and-4-year stretches.
The do-it-all 5’11” guard has one advantage that previous generations didn’t in the recently-passed NIL rule, which could net her over $1 million a year in the near future according to estimates from Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
Bueckers’ earning potential on potential social media advertisements is $63,000, according to Opendorse, well above any other college basketball players – men’s or women’s – and she has signed NIL deals with Gatorade, StockX, Cashapp, and Crocs, among other companies.
Many of these deals are multi-year and will carry over into her professional career, which will supplement the six-figure WNBA contracts that spur players like Britney Griner to play overseas during the offseason.
The combination of potential earnings, potential landing spot and the potential of becoming the first notable Connecticut player not to win a championship under Geno Auriemma will all factor into her decision.
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I’m sitting here after watching the WNBA draft the other day and wondering WHY THE HELL do those young ladies have to stay in school for 4 years before being able to go pro??!!! I’m CONFUSED 🤔
