Playing for Team USA at the senior level has always been a dream for many WNBA rookies. The national side chose six rookies for the World Cup Qualifiers. Three of those rookies, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Paige Bueckers, had already reached superstar status in their collegiate seasons and even carried their respective WNBA teams to success.
The trio already has significant popularity, evident at the competition. Even the Puerto Rico Head Coach’s daughter had a heartfelt message for Clark and Bueckers. But there was a major task for every rookie to stand out among the star-studded lineup, and the UConn star made her choice of ‘play’ that would help the team and also distinguish herself from the rest.
Paige Bueckers Separates Herself From The Rest With Defensive Gameplay
The Rookies have already taken charge of Team USA as Caitlin Clark is leading the line in scoring and assists, while Angel Reese is leading the rebounding stats. PB, on the other hand, takes on defensive duty and leads the team in steals.
“Yeah, I think I’ve just taken a great pride in it. I feel like obviously everybody here can score 30 a game if they wanted to. So for me, it was what else can I bring? And that’s the intensity on defence. I’m going to just try to stand out that way and set the tone of what we want to do. Be disruptive, get steals, get deflections. I think I’ve taken a great pride in that,” Bueckers said.
Paige Bueckers on her defense
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“Yeah, I think I’ve just taken a great pride in it. I feel like obviously everybody here can score 30 a game if they wanted to. So for me it was what else can I bring? And that’s the intensity on defense. I’m going to just try to stand out that way… pic.twitter.com/1vYV9AK9zV
She is even contributing heavily to scoring, too, and has been an efficient scorer for the team. She is also looking to improve on her leadership quality, and for that, Bueckers details her intentions to learn more from Sue Bird.
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Playing in the World Cup qualifiers is just a first step for the 2025 rookie who is seen as the future of the national side. But a WNBA analyst sees another important partnership in the making, which will be important for the national team.
WNBA Analyst Excited For Paige Bueckers-Caitlin Clark Connection
As PB mentioned, she is taking care of the defensive end of the floor, and combining it with Caitlin Clark’s offense makes a lethal combination for Team USA. The FIBA World Cup Qualifiers handed everyone a chance to see a similar impact as analyst Robin Lundberg sees a bright future for the national side.
“Caitlin got the ball more, got to do her thing a little bit more, completely and totally cooked in that second shift. She was with Paige Bueckers again in that second half; that’s the back court for the future. They look so beautiful when they’re playing together because Paige can score very fluidly and play within the rhythm and all that. So, Caitlin had the ball here, drives in, swings it out to Paige, pure. I mean, that’s what we want to see,” Lundberg said in his video.
Team USA used the combination extensively, as both rookies spent most of their time on the floor and led the team in scoring.