What Is Paige Bueckers’ Net Worth and Salary?
Paige Bueckers is an American professional basketball player with an estimated net worth of $10 million.
Bueckers emerged as one of the most prominent figures in women’s basketball during her celebrated UConn career. She became the first freshman to win all of the sport’s major national Player of the Year awards. Although significant knee injuries disrupted her college journey—including a torn ACL that sidelined her for the entire 2022-23 season—she returned in time to guide UConn to the 2025 NCAA championship. Just eight days after the title game, the Dallas Wings made her the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
The highly anticipated professional transition quickly proved justified. During her rookie campaign, Bueckers averaged 19.2 points and 5.4 assists per game, earned a spot on the WNBA All-Star team, received All-WNBA Second Team recognition, and won the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year award. She made another All-Star appearance in 2026 while increasing her scoring average to more than 20 points per game. Beyond the court, Bueckers has become a major commercial force in women’s sports. Forbes estimated her 2025 off-court income at $9 million through partnerships with Nike, Gatorade, DoorDash, Coach, Verizon, and Intuit. She also holds equity in the women’s three-on-three league Unrivaled and other ventures.
Early Life
Paige Madison Bueckers was born October 20, 2001, in Edina, Minnesota, and raised in nearby St. Louis Park. Her parents, Bob Bueckers and Amy Fuller, divorced when she was young. Paige spent most of her time living with her father while maintaining a close relationship with both parents.
She began playing basketball at about five years old and quickly displayed an uncommon understanding of the game. Her father coached her in youth leagues, and she often competed against boys and older players throughout her childhood. Bueckers also played soccer and baseball before making basketball her primary focus.
By middle school, Bueckers had become one of Minnesota’s most closely watched young prospects. She later attended Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, where her performances helped establish her as the top-ranked player in the 2020 recruiting class.
Hopkins High School
Bueckers joined Hopkins’ varsity team as an eighth grader and went on to build one of the most impressive résumés in modern high school girls’ basketball.
As a senior, she posted averages of more than 21 points, nine assists, five rebounds, and five steals per game while leading Hopkins through an unbeaten season. The team was set to compete for the Minnesota state championship when officials canceled the tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even without the chance to finish the season on the state’s biggest stage, Bueckers collected nearly every major national honor. She won Gatorade National Player of the Year, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, and Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year.
Her accomplishments also extended beyond the United States. Bueckers played for the U.S. in multiple international youth competitions, helping the country win gold at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship, the U17 World Cup, and the U19 World Cup. She was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2019 U19 World Cup.
Nearly every major women’s college basketball program pursued Bueckers during the recruiting process. She ultimately chose the University of Connecticut, where she played for Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.
Historic Freshman Season at UConn
Bueckers arrived at UConn for the pandemic-disrupted 2020-21 season and quickly established herself as the Huskies’ leading player.
She averaged 20 points, 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 52.4% from the floor and 46.4% from three-point range. UConn reached the Final Four, where it was upset by Arizona.
Individually, Bueckers made history. She became the first freshman to win the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, Associated Press Player of the Year, and USBWA National Player of the Year.
She was also named Big East Player of the Year and Big East Freshman of the Year.
No freshman in the history of women’s college basketball had previously collected that combination of national honors.
Knee Injuries
The next two years tested Bueckers in ways her freshman season had not.
During a December 2021 game against Notre Dame, Bueckers suffered a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee. She later underwent surgery and missed nearly three months of her sophomore season.
Bueckers returned in time for the NCAA Tournament and helped UConn reach the national championship game. One of her best performances came in an Elite Eight classic against NC State, when she scored 27 points, including 15 in overtime, as UConn won in double overtime.
The Huskies ultimately lost the national championship game to South Carolina.
An even more serious setback came the following summer. In August 2022, Bueckers tore the ACL in her left knee during a pickup game. The injury required surgery and forced her to miss the entire 2022-23 season.
At a point when many athletes might have considered leaving college or rushing their recovery, Bueckers spent more than a year rehabilitating before returning to competition.
Comeback
Bueckers returned for the 2023-24 season and quickly reestablished herself as one of the country’s elite players.
With UConn dealing with numerous injuries elsewhere on the roster, she carried an unusually heavy workload and averaged 21.9 points per game. Bueckers scored 854 points during the season, the second-highest single-season total in UConn history at the time.
She was named Big East Player of the Year and a unanimous first-team All-American. In the NCAA Tournament, Bueckers led the Huskies back to the Final Four before they lost narrowly to Iowa and Caitlin Clark.
Bueckers had another year of college eligibility available because of both her injury history and the NCAA’s pandemic rules. Rather than immediately enter the WNBA Draft, she returned to Connecticut with one major goal still missing from her résumé: a national championship.
2025 National Championship
Bueckers’ final UConn season became the ending she had waited years to experience.
She averaged 19.9 points per game while shooting 53.4% from the field, 41.9% from three-point range, and 88.9% at the foul line. UConn entered the NCAA Tournament as one of the championship favorites.
Bueckers elevated her scoring during the tournament. She poured in a career-high 40 points against Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, setting a UConn record for points in an NCAA Tournament game, and scored another 31 against USC in the Elite Eight.
UConn defeated UCLA in the Final Four and South Carolina in the national championship game, winning 82-59. The victory delivered the Huskies their 12th national championship and their first since 2016.
Bueckers finished her UConn career with 2,439 points, third-most in program history, while setting the school record with a career scoring average of 19.8 points per game. She took UConn to the Final Four in all four seasons in which she was healthy enough to play.
2025 WNBA Draft
The Dallas Wings selected Bueckers with the first overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
She became the sixth UConn player selected No. 1 overall, joining a group that included Diana Taurasi and other program legends.
Bueckers also became only the sixth player in WNBA history to win an NCAA championship and then be selected No. 1 overall days later.
Her rookie WNBA contract initially called for a first-year salary of $78,831, underscoring the enormous difference between Bueckers’ basketball salary and her endorsement income.
WNBA Rookie of the Year
Bueckers immediately became the centerpiece of the Dallas Wings.
She averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 36 games during the 2025 season. She finished fifth in the entire WNBA in scoring while also ranking among the league leaders in assists and steals.
Bueckers set multiple franchise rookie records and became one of the fastest rookies in league history to reach 500 points and 100 assists. In August, she scored a career-high 44 points against the Los Angeles Sparks.
She was selected as a WNBA All-Star and named to the All-WNBA Second Team and All-Rookie Team. At the end of the season, Bueckers won Rookie of the Year with 70 of the 72 available media votes.
The award followed the Rookie of the Year season produced by Caitlin Clark one year earlier and reinforced the arrival of a new generation of commercially powerful WNBA stars alongside players such as Angel Reese and A’ja Wilson.
2026 Season
Bueckers continued improving during her second WNBA season.
She averaged roughly 20.5 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game, improving as both a scorer and playmaker. She earned her second consecutive All-Star selection and was voted an All-Star starter after receiving more fan votes than any other guard.
Her WNBA compensation also changed dramatically. A new collective bargaining agreement increased the league’s salary cap and restructured existing rookie contracts. As a result, Bueckers’ 2026 salary increased from the approximately $80,000 she would have earned under the old agreement to **$500,000**.
The difference still leaves her sponsorship income far ahead of her WNBA paycheck, but it marked an enormous increase in player compensation throughout the league.
NIL Deals and Endorsement Earnings
Bueckers became a commercial star years before entering the WNBA.
When college athletes were first permitted to profit from their names, images, and likenesses in 2021, she became one of the earliest female college athletes to attract major national brands. Bueckers became Gatorade’s first NCAA athlete partner and also signed with Nike.
Her portfolio eventually expanded to include companies such as StockX, Cash App, Crocs, Bose, Nerf, Chegg, Madison Reed, and others.
Nike took the relationship considerably further. In December 2024, Bueckers became the first NIL athlete to design and release a Nike Player Edition basketball shoe, the Paige Bueckers G.T. Hustle 3.
Her commercial earnings accelerated after she turned professional. Forbes estimated that Bueckers earned approximately **$9 million from endorsements and other off-court activities in 2025**, compared with less than $100,000 from her WNBA salary.
Her sponsor roster has included Nike, Gatorade, Coach, DoorDash, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Verizon, Intuit, Fanatics, CarMax, Panini, 2K Sports, and Madison Reed. DoorDash also named Bueckers its first athlete creative director under a multiyear agreement.
Unrivaled
Bueckers became involved with Unrivaled even before turning professional.
The three-on-three women’s professional basketball league was founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. In 2024, while still playing at UConn, Bueckers signed an NIL agreement with Unrivaled that included an equity stake, making her one of the first college athletes to receive ownership in a professional sports league.
After graduating, she signed a three-year playing agreement with Unrivaled. Her first-season compensation was reported to exceed what her original four-year WNBA rookie contract would have paid in total.
Bueckers debuted for Breeze BC during Unrivaled’s 2026 season and averaged 22.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 14 games. She was named All-Unrivaled First Team.
Her equity stake could ultimately become substantially more valuable than her playing salary if the league continues growing.
(Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Business Interests and Entertainment
Bueckers has increasingly structured endorsement agreements to include business opportunities rather than simply accepting conventional sponsorship fees.
She owns equity in Good Eat’n, the snack-food company co-founded by Chris Paul, and her Unrivaled agreement also includes ownership.
Bueckers has expanded into entertainment as well. She became attached to star in and executive produce “Jess & Pearl,” an Apple Original Films project inspired by a story about two women’s basketball players.
Those ventures reflect the larger commercial shift occurring around women’s basketball. For Bueckers, endorsement income, equity, licensing, entertainment, and other business opportunities have already generated dramatically more money than her WNBA playing contract.
Personal Life
Bueckers has been open about her Christian faith and frequently references it when discussing both her successes and the injuries that nearly derailed her college career.
She also established the Paige Bueckers Foundation, which focuses on creating opportunities for children and families and supporting initiatives related to sports, food insecurity, and social justice. Bueckers has used portions of her NIL income and commercial partnerships to support charitable programs in Minnesota and Connecticut.
From National Player of the Year as a freshman to a lost season because of a torn ACL, a national championship comeback, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick, Rookie of the Year, and one of women’s basketball’s largest endorsement portfolios, Bueckers built an unusually eventful résumé before turning 25. Her professional career is still in its early stages, but she has already become one of the players helping redefine both the competitive and financial possibilities of women’s basketball.
All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. When provided, we also incorporate private tips and feedback received from the celebrities or their representatives. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below.
