UConn’s Paige Bueckers Announces Return for Senior Season, Will Forgo 2024 WNBA Draft

Julia StumbaughFebruary 17, 2024

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Paige Bueckers will return to UConn for her senior season instead of entering the 2024 WNBA draft, where she was projected to be a top-three pick.

Bueckers made the announcement Friday during UConn’s Senior Night celebration.

“I know everybody wants me to address the elephant in the room,” Bueckers said. “Unfortunately, this will not be my last Senior Night here at UConn. I’m coming back.”

UConn on SNY @SNYUConn”Unfortunately this will not be my last Senior NIght”

PAIGE BUECKERS WILL RETURN TO STORRS NEXT YEAR! pic.twitter.com/0F9hS04Rof

After missing last season due to an ACL tear, Bueckers is leading the Huskies with 20.0 points per game while shooting 54.1 percent from the field through 26 games this season.

“Obviously, these four years didn’t go how I planned or how I wanted it to go but wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Bueckers said. “I wouldn’t be able to get through what I went through without everybody here. Thank you to best fans in the country.”

Bueckers has two more years of eligibility remaining after this season.

After becoming the first woman to be named the top player in college basketball by earning the Naismith Trophy in 2021, Bueckers was sidelined for 584 days after tearing her ACL in August 2022. Prior to that, she had missed most of her sophomore season with a knee injury.

She recovered this season to prove herself as one of the most dominant players in college basketball. ESPN’s Michael Voepel predicted in January that Bueckers would be selected third to the Phoenix Mercury, behind Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and the Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brink.

Bueckers said last month that which team was projected to select her wasn’t what would sway her decision.

“It’s not about teams in the draft, who’s got what pick,” Bueckers told reporters on Jan. 9, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “It’s all about me loving playing here, me loving my teammates and wanting to get more experiences and more time with them and more time in the program.”

One factor in Bueckers deciding to stay might be the chance to play with junior guard Azzi Fudd, whose season ended due to an ACL tear in November. Fudd and Bueckers were close friends before coming to UConn, but due to coinciding injuries have only ever played 17 games together, according to Philippou.

UConn seniors Aaliyah Edwards, Nika Muhl and Aubrey Griffin were also honored Friday night. All are eligible to return next season, although only the injured Griffin announced her return, according to SNY’s John Healy.