UConn's Paige Bueckers is an early favorite for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. Here's why the internet is loving her right now.

In 2020, Bleacher Report profiled the rising star during her senior year of high school and reported that her dad, Bob Bueckers, had tried to put her in other sports as a child, but Paige insisted on only playing basketball when she was in first grade.

By her senior year of high school in Hopkins, Minnesota, she was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and nicknamed "Paige Buckets." At the time of the profile, she was averaging 21.4 points and 9.2 assists per game.

"I'll never be able to reach perfection, so I can always strive to be perfect. I'm not at my full potential yet, and I'm just in high school, and I want to keep going — in college and the pros. I want to just keep playing basketball and keep getting better and never get complacent with where I'm at right now," an 18-year-old Bueckers told the reporter.

The 2020 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings by espnW determined Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 recruit coming out of high school, ahead of recent WNBA draftees like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, and yes, Caitlin Clark.

To say Bueckers started her collegiate career at UConn with a bang would be an understatement.

Per UConn and ESPN, the freshman led the Huskies in points (581), assists (166), steals (66), and three-point field goal percentage (46.4%) and seemingly earned every award possible that season.

Bueckers was the first female freshman to win the Wooden Award, recognizing the most outstanding college basketball players. She also received the Naismith Trophy and was named the 2021 espnW Player and Freshman of the Year, the 2021 AP Player of the Year, the 2021 WBCA Freshman of the Year, and the 2021 Big East Player and Freshman of the Year, among other awards.

Although her speech was given almost three years ago, there's been a renewed interest in Bueckers' words on TikTok. One clip posted by Uninterrupted, an athlete empowerment brand founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, has over 977,000 views and 97,000 likes.

"With the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a Black-led sport and celebrated here, I want to show a light on Black women. They don't get the media coverage that they deserve. They've given so much to this sport and the community and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable. And the WNBA last season, the postseason awards, 80 percent of the winners were Black, but they got half of the coverage as the white athletes, so I think it's time for change," Bueckers said.

"Sports media holds the key to storylines. Sports media and sponsors tell us who is valuable and you have told the world that I matter today, and everyone who voted, thank you, but I think we should use this power together to also celebrate Black women. So, to Maria Taylor, Robin Roberts, Maya Moore, Odicci Alexander, to all the incredible Black women in my life, on my teams, to Breonna Taylor and all the lives lost, and to those names who I have not yet learned but I hope to share, I stand behind you, and I'll continue to follow you and follow your lead and fight for you guys so I just wanna say, thank you for everything," she concluded.

This wasn't the first time Bueckers had been outspoken about social justice issues. Throughout the summer of 2020, she used her platform to speak in support of Black Lives Matter.

For example, in August 2020, Bueckers shared photos and videos of her little brother Drew, who is Black, on Instagram, writing in the caption, "At what point do they stop looking at my little brother as a cute little boy and instead as a threat to society? It scares me … I am committed to help making a change for the better."

Bueckers missed 19 games during her sophomore season due to a fracture and meniscus tear. However, she was able to return and help the team reach the final of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Bueckers scored 14 points and had six rebounds, but UConn ultimately lost to South Carolina.

Unfortunately, Bueckers' time with injuries wasn't over. She tore her ACL in August 2022 and was forced to miss the entirety of her junior season.

After her ACL injury, Bueckers redshirted, giving her another year of NCAA eligibility.

UConn reported that she started all 39 games of the season, leading the team with an average of 21.9 points per game. She scored her 1,000th career point in her 55th game with the UConn Huskies, tying Maya Moore as the fastest player to reach that milestone.

In her returning season, she was named the most outstanding player of the 2024 Big East Tournament, the Big East Player of the Year, and the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Although Bueckers and UConn lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four, the two teams attracted a record 14.2 million viewers.

ESPN reported that the game was the most-viewed women's basketball game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast.

This record was broken just days later by the women's final, which drew an average of 18.7 million viewers with a peak of 24 million across ESPN and ABC, NPR reported, marking the first time the women's final was watched more than the men's.

When asked during the post-game press conference about a questionable call that may have determined the outcome of the game, Bueckers told reporters, "Everybody can make a big deal of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game."

"I should have done a better job of making sure we didn't leave the game up to chance like that and leave the game up to one bad call going our way and that deciding it," she added.

Although her exact NIL valuation details are listed as "undisclosed" by On3, the site reports she has an annual value of $1 million.

One look at Bueckers' Instagram will likely make you believe her true value is much higher. For starters, Nike, Gatorade, Bose, StockX, and Chegg are all tagged in her bio.

She also has shared ads and partnerships with Go Army, CVS, Taco Bell, Dunkin', and Buick to her 1.6 million followers.

TikTok blew up after seeing Bueckers' WNBA Draft outfit: an all-white Louis Vuitton look with a matching bag and gold accessories.

Her TikToks showcasing the look have a combined 30.3 million views and over 4 million likes.

And she didn't stop there; Bueckers also took some time to show off her dance moves with TikToker Janae Sims (better known as Auntie Nae) on the red carpet, garnering 5.2 million views, 889,000 likes, and 56,000 favorites before becoming everyone's favorite "proud mom" meme.

Bueckers posted photos from the night on her Instagram with the caption, "My hype woman era [sparkle emoji]."

As some fans anticipate her final season at UConn, others are already looking ahead to the 2025 WNBA draft, where she's among the early favorites for the first overall pick, per CBS.

WNBA legend Diana Taurasi even said she'd build a WNBA team around Bueckers over Caitlin Clark, The Spun reported. The comments, which were made during an alternate broadcast of the NCAA Women's Final Four game between UConn and Iowa, received some backlash from fans.

Taurasi previously called Bueckers "the best player in basketball" during a 2021 interview with Togethxr, Business Insider reported.

From her talent on the court to her style and popularity off the court, it seems like the Paige Bueckers obsession era will last a long time.