Dwyane Wade Sparks Paige Bueckers Debate That Threatens Caitlin Clark’s Legacy Amid ROTY Win

On Tuesday morning, Paige Bueckers hit The Jennifer Hudson Show runway with a tunnel of clapping, cheering staff—like her own mini victory parade before the stage. Fitting, because the No. 1 pick just snagged 2025 Rookie of the Year, becoming UConn’s seventh alum to do it. She danced her way down the hall, only to double-take when she spotted Commissioner Cathy Engelbert waiting. But honestly, if Dwyane Wade had rolled through, she wouldn’t have even flinched. He’s been riding for her since April, making us do a double-take on his view of who’s the GOAT.

WY Network dropped a throwback clip on Instagram of D-Wade and his crew on the Time Out podcast from back in April, talking about Bueckers. Wade put it perfectly, saying, “The one thing social media has allowed us to be able to see [is] the little kids that’s in seventh grade, that is doing their thing and people say, in years such and such, such and such, watch out for them. Well, Paige Bueckers was one of those little kids that right up to say, she’s gonna be one of the greatest women basketball players ever when she was young. That’s a lot of pressure.”

And he wasn’t exaggerating. By seventh grade, Bueckers was already making waves, grabbing an All-Tournament Team nod at AAU Nationals and catching attention as a fearless combo guard. She cracked Hopkins’ varsity squad as an eighth grader, averaging nearly nine points a game, and then burst into her freshman year with a 28-point debut against Osseo High.

That season, she led Hopkins to a 31–1 record, earned Class 4A All-Tournament honors, and even became the first-ever Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year—an award that hadn’t gone to anyone since its creation over three decades earlier. And thus, Wade’s post asked the question, “Will she go down as one of the GOATs?”

Dwyane Wade continued, “The ACL injury she dealt with, having to come back and still get back to the level of greatness that we expected from a Paige Bueckers, she did it right away. Not missing a beat.” True to that, Paige returned to UConn for her senior year instead of joining the WNBA in 2024, determined to continue her college career and chase more success. Fast forward to 2025, and Paige was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, hitting the ground running.

And D-Wade added, “And so she said it last year, ‘Y’all have seen the world tour, but you have not seen the work tour.’ And she don’t show her work, and you can tell she works her butt off because of the results out there.” No exaggeration. Starting all 36 games, she averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 33.3 minutes, shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 88.8 percent from the line. She led all rookies in points and assists, ranked second among rookies in steals and free throw percentage, and fourth in field goal percentage—breaking franchise rookie records along the way.

Paige didn’t just set records—she made history. On Aug. 20 against the Los Angeles Sparks, she dropped 44 points on 17-of-21 shooting (81 percent), becoming the first WNBA rookie ever to score 40+ points while shooting 80+ percent. She also became the first rookie in league history to average at least 15 points, 5 assists, and 45 percent shooting from the field in a season. She even gave tough competition to Caitlin Clark, finishing as the second rookie ever with 500+ points, 150+ assists, 100+ rebounds, and 50+ steals in a season, including ten games of 20+ points and 5+ assists—the second most by a rookie in WNBA history.

So, do we agree with Dwyane Wade saying Paige Bueckers could be “one of the greatest women basketball players ever”?

The GOAT debate: Caitlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers

Last month on his Time Out podcast, Wade shared his thoughts on Caitlin Clark. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I think Paige Bueckers is going to be, you know, one of those GOATs, right?’ And then Paige suffered, you know, the ACL injuries in college. Opened up that window for Caitlin Clark,” Wade said. He was pointing out that Paige was on a trajectory to dominate women’s basketball, but her ACL injuries in college gave Clark the perfect opening to carve out her own legacy. And while Paige’s path has been impressive, there’s no denying that Clark has already made her mark in the league.

Drafted No. 1 overall in 2024, Caitlin Clark wasted no time rewriting WNBA history. In her rookie season, she started all 40 games for Indiana, averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game with shooting splits of 41.7/34.4/90.6, a 58.3% TS, and 3.0 WS. She set single-season rookie records in points (769), assists (337), and three-pointers made (122), became the first rookie to record two triple-doubles, and was the first to earn Player of the Month honors since 2010.

Clark also notched 14 games with 20+ points, five rebounds, and five assists, eight games with 20+ points and 10+ assists, and posted a post-Paris Olympics stretch of 24.7 points and 9.3 assists over ten games—including an eight-game run that included Indiana’s first five-game winning streak since 2015. She finished seventh in the league in scoring, first in assists, and first in three-pointers, cementing herself as one of the most dominant rookies in WNBA history.

It’s no wonder former No. 1 pick Lauren Jackson said, “Caitlin Clark will be the next GOAT, she really is going to be one of the greats of the game, there is no doubt about it.” But she added a caveat: “But it’s going to take time.” Former Duke star Jay Williams chimed in: “We were talking about ‘greatest,’ and in my interview we talked about GOATs. For me, I’m like, you wanna be a GOAT? Fine. There’s levels of greatness. You gotta win championships to be GOATs.”

Clark hasn’t won a championship yet, but the “Caitlin Clark effect” is undeniable. Her electrifying return in July against the defending champs—a 102–88 win over the New York Liberty—drew 2.2 million viewers on ABC, peaking at 2.8 million, 76% more than the average regular-season game last year. Even with Clark ruled out for the remainder of the 2025 season due to groin and ankle injuries, the debate over who’s the true GOAT is far from over.