The year 2025 had been very eventful for Paige Bueckers, who, on the one hand, lifted the national championship with the UConn Huskies and, months later, finished at the bottom of the standings with her WNBA team, Dallas Wings. Though Bueckers won the Rookie of the Year award, the feeling of missing out on the playoffs was always heartbreaking for the fans.
The superstar guard, though, remains optimistic about the results and is looking to improve on the season performance. Even though the team couldn’t match her level, the former UConn star kept her focus and delivered on a nightly basis. In a recent exclusive interview, PB spoke about her ideology that helped her focus on her goals.
Paige Bueckers’ Advice To Stay Focused
The wings’ rookie signed a three-year partnership with CarMax, which is the official auto retailer of the NBA and WNBA. During her recent campaign, she answered a few questions and advised the young athletes to stay focused with her example.
“It’s been a learning process of learning how to stop caring about other people’s opinions of you. Don’t look to the left, don’t look to the right. Run your own race and just be super driven, super purpose-filled, and be super present-minded,” Bueckers admitted in an exclusive interview with USA Network.
Paige Bueckers this year:
— Real Sports (@realapp) September 16, 2025
• NCAA National Champion
• Drafted 1st Overall
• Top 3 in PTS & AST by a rookie all-time
• Rookie single-game scoring record
• Rookie of the Year pic.twitter.com/RqIUqrotEu
She added that everyone should embrace the hard and even adverse situations. The 24-year-old highlighted that life is all about how anyone responds to challenges and stays motivated in a positive way.
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While those were not only the words of wisdom from the Wings’ rookie, she delivered the results following the same ‘mantra’. Even though many praised the former UConn star for her individual success, she faced criticism for her team’s failure. Yet she kept going, drawing inspiration from her UConn success to build a winning culture in the Wings team, striving to pull her team to the top and demonstrating her will to win and killer instinct on the floor.
Wings’ Star Defends Paige Bueckers’ ‘Killer Instinct’
Luisa Geiselsoder was one of the draft picks from the 2025 class who joined the Wings alongside PB, and the German star quickly became her teammates’ fan. In a ‘The Journey’ podcast, the host of the show asked Geiselsode to choose between Caitlin Clark’s and the Wings guard’s rookie season. She sided with PB, and one fan didn’t like it.
He commented on the Instagram post and said, “Caitlin Clark is revolutionizing women’s basketball right now. Paige Bueckers is extremely good but without ‘killer instinct’,”
But 25-year-oldrooke was not having it as she defended PB’s killer instinct and replied, “Caitlin Clark is definitely and an important part of the revolution in women’s basketball. Definitely not the only one tho…. Paige Bueckers has a “killer instinct” I can confirm 100% from live experience.”
Fans witnessed both her killer instinct and concentration during her rookie season, which was monumental in many ways for the Wings. And her guidelines could be handy not only for the athletes, but also in general life.