Paige Bueckers is all smiles during opening day for the USA Basketball women’s national team training camp in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo: USA Basketball)
PHOENIX — As the NCAA Women’s Final Four weekend is set to take place in downtown Phoenix, the USA Basketball hosted a training camp for the Women’s National Team at the Phoenix Mercury‘s practice facility on Wednesday.
As the FIBA Women’s World Cup is set to take place in Germany in September with many new faces, one of those players, guard Paige Bueckers takes her approach with the National Team day-by-day.
Since getting her name called up to the roster, she envisions how the team chemistry has evolved from the start of training camp in December to the Qualifiers in Puerto Rico in March.
“As a group, we want to continue to build in our chemistry and our camaraderie, and there’s each camp and each step along the way, there’s going to be different people to build with,” Bueckers said Wednesday.
“And that’s why I wanted to be here, to continue to build my relationship with USA Basketball. Prior to this year, I hadn’t done anything since I was 18. So to be back here, I never want to pass up this opportunity to continue to grow, learn, be a sponge and be surrounded by so many amazing women in coaching.”
USA Women’s National Team head coach Kara Lawson witnessed the evolution of Bueckers from when she was in high school without a driver’s license to where she is in the WNBA and the pros.
She also stated that she has seen Bueckers blossom on the court as a leader and players enjoy being around her during practices.
Paige Bueckers’ hallmark qualities in being a leader, motivator and connector are continually prevalent during USA Basketball’s training camp. (Photo: USA Basketball)
“There’s just natural growth, maturity that happens within all of us,” Lawson said. “From 16 to 24, she’s always been really confident in who she is as a player and what she can do on the board. And she’s always had a great deal of charisma, (and) she has an incredible way about her too. Everybody likes Paige, and that’s hard to do, where everybody likes you. People will pretend that they’re annoyed by her, but they really like her special spirit in that way.”
One of Lawson’s assistant coaches, Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts, has been impressed with Bueckers’ techniques on and off the court, from the Qualifying Tournament in San Juan to the training camp in Phoenix.
As Bueckers practices on the Diana Taurasi Court, named after franchise legend Diana Taurasi, who won an Olympic-record six gold medals, she is one of the future faces of the game on a national level.
“Paige is one of the best talents in our league,” Tibbetts said of Bueckers. “I love her aura, I love her swag. I love her approach. Yeah. I mean, it’s just a ton of fun for me to be around the best players in the world. It was a great opportunity to be with them in Puerto Rico, and now it’s even more special for them to see our beautiful facility.
“We get to live in here every day. You start to take it for granted, and then you get people walking here like wow. This is unbelievable, and it’s true, and we got to give our ownership (Mat Ishbia) a ton of credit for that.”
Paige Bueckers has garnered the respect and praises of her veteran USA Basketball teammates like Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty. (Photo: USA Basketball)
What stands out to guard Sabrina Ionescu, an Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion with the New York Liberty, is the skill set she sees from Bueckers on both ends of the court.
Additionally, she mentioned the transformation and history of the game of the dominance of the USA women’s basketball, in which they have won eight straight gold medals in the Summer Olympics.
“I mean, it’s been awesome,” Ionescu said of Bueckers’ evolution. “Obviously, there are a lot of new faces here at USA basketball, a lot younger players than we’ve seen in the past, which is really exciting, because we’ve all gone through this USA pipeline from a really young age. It’s been really fun to be on this journey with a lot of new faces, obviously, a lot of familiar faces. But it’s exciting to see the growth and the standard that’s set here, and how people continue to show up because what a great honor (to share the court with Paige).”
As Bueckers prepares for her second season with the Dallas Wings, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year winner is ready to continue building on her leadership role and developing a relationship with head coach Jose Fernandez.
