Paige Bueckers is living up to the unfair expectations she was given

After Paige Bueckers won the 2025 NCAA Championship with UConn, there was a lot of discussion about how her play would translate into the league; many of the discussions held unfair predictions. Before she had even declared for the 2025 WNBA Draft, spectators expected her to be the No. 1 overall pick. While that assumption came true and she was picked first overall by the Dallas Wings, the expectations did not stop there.

The WNBA is a tough league to get yourself established in, due to a simple lack of roster spots and an overabundance of talent that has been in the league for a long time. We can only imagine that the expectations placed on a player to come into a new environment and absolutely dominate can feel stressful, overwhelming - and just unlikely. Paige Bueckers is not the first player to be riddled with these assumptions before ever stepping foot on a W court.

The 2024 No. 1 overall pick, Caitlin Clark, knows this feeling all too well. Clark became a superstar during her time at Iowa, breaking records left and right. Some fans seem to expect those record-breaking performances nightly since she entered the W last season. Bueckers recently described the expectations placed on Clark to perform every night as "inhumane," adding that they are "unfair to have to deal with."

She's clarified that she knows the expectations exist - especially for No. 1 draft picks, but she focuses on the personal expectations that she has set for herself. Rather than wasting energy looking around at other draft picks or honing in on what the media asks of her, she chooses to "run her own race."

Paige Bueckers living up to those unfair expectations

Although the expectations are unjust, Bueckers, through 15 games, has lived up to them. While the Dallas Wings are seemingly still figuring things out - as they also battle through injury woes - Bueckers' individual performance is speaking for itself. She is averaging 18.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. She is leading the Rookie of the Year conversation and was the only rookie named as a starter for this year's All-Star game. She has yet to have a single-digit scoring game this season. And, just last month, she became the fastest player to reach 200 points and 50 assists.

Paige Buecker's accolades, for this year alone, could go on for days. She has crushed every expectation placed on her - but has also made it clear that they do not fuel the way she performs. She's known for her humble personality and has said she goes through life "being where her feet are" while remaining teammate-driven.

Let Paige Bueckers' words be a lesson to all of us - it is important to remember that our favorite players are only human, so we cannot expect triple-doubles from them every night. Instead, we can all be happy that Bueckers is having an exceptional rookie season, despite all the noise and unfair projections placed on her.