In each of the past few years, the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft has been an essential no-brainer. After the Indiana Fever were beneficiaries in 2023 and 2024, the Dallas Wings made the most of their draft lottery luck in 2025.
Specific to the past two years, the parallels between Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Dallas' Paige Bueckers as do-it-all guards are hard to ignore. They're both members of the high school class of 2020, and Clark and Bueckers entered the WNBA with claims to many collegiate accolades, records, and honors.
Special as both players were in college, the transition to the next level is no joke — neither player was in for a rude awakening in the W, but both had to adjust to an increase in physicality and skill.
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In 2024, Clark overcame those challenges to become an All-Star starter and Rookie of the Year award winner. One year later, Bueckers has checked the All-Star starter box, and she's building a case to earn Rookie of the Year honors in a talented class of first-year players.
As the Fever and Wings meet for the fourth time this season, here's how Bueckers' rookie campaign measures up to Clark's.
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Paige Bueckers vs. Caitlin Clark rookie stats
They go about things differently, but Bueckers and Clark both have built reputations as guards capable of doing everything for their team. Clark's scoring is sometimes louder, but Bueckers has shown the ability to fill it up throughout her career.
It's not a full sample size, but Bueckers' rookie-year scoring is on par with Clark's, though Clark has the edge as a rebounder and playmaker. The edges for defensive counting stats go to Bueckers.
Notably, Bueckers' career is off to a historically torrid start. This season, she became the fastest player in league history to reach 200 points and 50 assists, doing so in 11 games, one game quicker than Clark.
That same game, she became the first player in league history to record 25-plus points, five-plus assists, two-plus steals, and two-plus blocks with no turnovers.
Less than a week later, Bueckers became the fastest guard since the league's inaugural season to reach 250 points, 50 rebounds, and 50 assists, reaching the plateaus in her 14th career game.
Paige Bueckers becomes the fastest guard since 1997 to reach:
— Real Sports (@realapp_) July 4, 2025
250+ PTS
50+ REB
50+ AST pic.twitter.com/g7egnnCvZ3
In August, Bueckers tied a WNBA rookie record with 44 points in a one-point loss to the Sparks.
Here's how Bueckers' 25-game sample size compares to Clark's 40-game rookie season.
| Bueckers | Clark | |
| Games | 29 | 40 |
| Points/Game | 19.7 | 19.2 |
| Rebounds/Game | 4.1 | 5.7 |
| Assists/Game | 5.3 | 8.4 |
| Steals/Game | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| Blocks/Game | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Field goal% | 47.4% | 41.7% |
| 3-point% | 33.7% | 34.4% |
| Free throw% | 88.6% | 90.6% |
It is important to note that, like Clark, Bueckers' final college season did not end until the national championship game. Each player had a quick turnaround before reporting for their respective rookie seasons, with Clark notably struggling out of the gate.
In 2024, Clark benefited from the lengthy Olympic break, posting averages of 23.1 points, 8.9 assists, and 5.4 rebounds over the final 14 games of the regular season. This year, Bueckers won't be able to benefit from such a layoff, though she has been forced to rest due to injuries that held her out of five of Dallas' first 21 games.
Because of the games Bueckers has missed, she will not match Clark's 40-game total from 2024, but the Wings rookie should still appear in enough games to be in consideration for Rookie of the Year.
As time goes on, she may rewrite history some more, too.
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