Bueckers, Collier, Stewart: How the League’s Brightest Are Shaping the Playoffs
When Diana Taurasi insisted in May that Paige Bueckers would one day be the best player in the WNBA, few doubted the possibility.
Few also could have predicted that the Dallas Wings rookie would be this good, this fast.
The title of Best Player in the League still bounces between the likes of A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and, when healthy, Breanna Stewart. But Bueckers isn’t terribly far behind. She proved that on August 20 with a 44-point masterpiece against the Los Angeles Sparks.
This wasn’t just a star chucking up shots next to some hapless teammates. Bueckers was 17-21 from the floor, 4-4 from three, and 6-6 from the line. It set the WNBA rookie scoring record and was the 10th-most points ever scored in a WNBA game. She also became the first person in league history to score 40+ while shooting 80% from the field.
Listening to Bueckers speak after the game, UConn fans might think she was talking about the 2024-25 Huskies, not the 9-29 Wings.
“This team just means so much to me,” she said, per ClutchPoints’ Joey Mistretta. “The way we love each other, like, it could be easy for us to sit here and be nine in whatever we are and be miserable and hate coming to work, but just how we show up for each other, we're learning and growing together… As much as success and the wins haven't translated yet, what we're building here, it just makes me so happy. I'm just super grateful for it.”
It's part of what makes her great. She’s not just a “team player.” She’s 100%, 10-toes in committed to a team that she has been a part of for four months in a city she has never lived in before this year.
For further proof, see how she followed up that 44-point performance. Two games later, she endured a 3-12 shooting effort but dished out nine assists with only one turnover. On the season, she’s averaging 5.2 assists to only 2.0 turnovers per game — an insane number considering that she’s a rookie and how much she handles the ball.
With Wings rookie JJ Quinerly out the rest of the season with an ACL sprain, Bueckers is going to have the ball in her hands even more, shifting back to point guard after spending a long stretch of the season on the wing.
Collier Returns With a Flourish
Napheesa Collier missed three weeks of action with an ankle injury, but she returned to the Minnesota Lynx lineup on Sunday and didn’t seem to have missed a beat. The MVP hopeful finished with 32 points and nine rebounds while shooting 11-16 from the field.
"She's that darn good," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "Obviously, she was ready to play. Having her play makes it easier for everyone else. We can all settle back into our roles and things we like to do."
The Lynx, who are running away with the WNBA’s 1 seed, didn’t exactly struggle without her, highlighting the embarrassment of riches on Reeve’s team. They went 6-2 in her absence, with the two losses coming to the defending champion New York Liberty and the second-place Atlanta Dream.
Still, Collier’s teammates were happy to have her back.
"I told [Collier] before the game, I'm sick of taking 18, 20 shots,” Courtney Williams joked. “I'm ready to be back to 10 or 12. So it feels good to have Phee back."
The Liberty Desperately Needed Stewart Back
While the Lynx have been an unstoppable freight train all year, the defending champion Liberty are playing a game under .500 since their 9-0 start to the year. Their struggles only worsened when Breanna Stewart went down with a knee injury and the Liberty went 5-8 in her absence.
She came back on Monday and — while the Liberty still struggled to beat the lowly Connecticut Sun — she made an instant impact. It wasn’t just her stat line, which included a 19-point comeback statement.
The Liberty lineup just works better with Stewart in it. She’s the only one on the team with her level of athleticism, not only allowing her to play just about anywhere (and guard anyone) but also making her a threat to get to the rim that the team missed in her absence.
The immediate result: Stewart was 11-13 from the line on Monday. Meanwhile, her teammates attempted five total free throws.
"I felt great,” Stewart said after the game. “I was trying to get [Liberty coach] Sandy [Brondello] to get me to play more minutes, but I pushed it while I was out there."
The Liberty now have seven games left to continue righting the ship before they begin the playoffs in search of their second straight championship.