LOS ANGELES \u2014 Before Dallas\u2019 game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday, Wings coach Chris Koclanes was asked why Paige Bueckers was the rookie of the year.<\/p>\n
Koclanes was at a loss for words.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just clear,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s rookie of the year. There\u2019s no questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bueckers put an exclamation point on what has already been a historic rookie campaign with 44 points Wednesday night, though Dallas came up one point short, 81-80, thanks to Kelsey Plum\u2019s runner at the buzzer. Nevertheless, Bueckers tied Cynthia Cooper\u2019s rookie single-game scoring record, set during the WNBA\u2019s inaugural season in 1997, when Cooper was 34. Among drafted rookies, though, Bueckers stands alone, eclipsing Candace Parker\u2019s 40-point effort in 2008.<\/p>\n
In a game the Wings lost by one, Bueckers was plus-12 in her 36 minutes. The Sparks had no answers for her offense, as she shot 17 of 21 from the field and made all six of her free-throw attempts. No WNBA player has ever taken more than 20 field goals in a game and missed four or fewer before Bueckers.<\/p>\n
She had three steals to just one turnover, and her lone mistake may have been passing the ball to Aziaha James for Dallas\u2019 final shot instead of taking it herself.<\/p>\n
Bueckers was already the fastest rookie in WNBA history to 500 points. She also set the Wings franchise assist record. Now, she owns another piece of league history.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Kirby Lee \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aug 21, 2025<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Before Dallas\u2019 game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday, Wings coach Chris Koclanes was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[2470,1488,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-162920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-dallas-wings","9":"tag-los-angeles-sparks","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115064938404214284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}