Paige Bueckers has had busy week since helping UConn win national championship

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been a whirlwind week for Paige Bueckers since she won her first national championship with UConn.

The Huskies star player has been going back and forth between Connecticut and New York doing morning and night time talk show appearances. Bueckers stopped by “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and interrupted his monologue to let him hold the national championship trophy on Wednesday night.

Later in the week she came back to New York for WNBA rookie orientation before finally going back to Connecticut for a parade to celebrate the school’s 12th NCAA title they won in Tampa, Florida.

Bueckers also signed a three-year deal with Unrivaled, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made. Bueckers had a name, image and likeness deal with the 3-on-3 league in its inaugural year this past winter that gave her equity in the league.

Her first-year salary for the 10-week Unrivaled season will be more than what she would make in her four-year rookie WNBA contract. The average salary at Unrivaled was more than $220,000 and her four-year WNBA deal’s base salary would be just under $350,000.

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ESPN first reported the Unrivaled deal.

Bueckers has been enjoying the moment since the storybook ending to her college career. Bueckers’ life won’t slow down after Monday night when she’s expected to be taken No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings at the WNBA draft.

Bueckers will be headed to Texas to do appearances and get ready for training camp that begins on April 27. She’ll be in the spotlight trying to revitalize the Dallas franchise. Her No. 5 jersey is expected to be one of the top sellers in the WNBA this upcoming season.

The 23-year-old guard has been in the spotlight since her high school days in Minnesota. She’s been one of the most popular players ever since she stepped foot in Storrs, Connecticut, in 2021.

Bueckers burst on to the season as a freshman in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. She became the first player ever to earn AP Player of the Year honors in her first year. Then injuries hampered her next two years before she finally was healthy again.

“It was a journey of resilience, of overcoming adversity,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world just because it became such a beautiful story and a remarkable journey of ups and downs, highs and lows, of keeping the faith, of working extremely hard, and I really wouldn’t trade it.”

Her name, image and likeness valuations are among the top for women’s basketball players. She has deals with major sponsors Nike, Gatorade, Verizon and Dunkin’ Donuts. She added Ally Financial last week.

It’s something that none of the previous UConn greats such as Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart had when they entered the WNBA.

On the court, Bueckers has been one of the most efficient players in college basketball during her time at UConn. She finished her career shooting over 53% from the field, 42% from behind the 3-point line and 85% from the free throw line.

“It’s going to be fun to watch her because I expect a similar efficiency from her at the pro level,” ESPN analyst Lobo said. “I actually think it will be good if her efficiency is down a little bit because that means she’s hunting shots more, which is kind of what she has the ability to do and what we saw especially throughout the course of the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.

“But she’s a special talent who can just get where she wants to get and once she gets there, hit her shots at a ridiculously high efficiency.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball