Paige Bueckers barely made it back from Berlin before her body forced her to slow down. After a brutal World Cup stretch aggravated her knee, the Dallas Wings are already managing her workload ahead of their return against the Los Angeles Sparks. And Bueckers made one thing painfully clear about international basketball: the WNBA does not come close to matching its physicality.

After practice on September 16, Bueckers was asked how WNBA defense compared with what she faced internationally. Her answer was not subtle. She made it clear that the level of physicality overseas was on another level.

“100 times more physical,” she said about the defense abroad, according to beat reporter Drake Keeler on X.

“I was switching a lot on defense and guarding in the post because I felt like I was able to play a lot more physical, foul a little bit more.”

Bueckers’ assertion shows up in her counting stats as well. Over the six games she played in the tournament, Bueckers averaged 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, with both numbers climbing even higher earlier in the tournament.

For comparison, over her two-year WNBA career, she has averaged just 0.4 blocks per game, while making up for it with her steal numbers, sitting at 1.2 per game for her career.

In fact, Bueckers was Team USA’s leading shot-blocker over their first three games, totaling four blocks along with four steals. But her production faded as her minutes were reduced later in the tournament, with Bueckers eventually revealing that patellar tendinitis in her right knee had flared up during the condensed schedule.

During the same post-practice media scrum, Bueckers told reporters that she had to deal with her patellar tendinitis, which “flared up” due to the significant number of games in a small period.

“There were two back-to-backs,” she told reporters, per Keeler.

“Just wanted to be cautious, take that approach. Obviously the timing was frustrating, but being smart about it too, knowing that there’s a reason and purpose for everything.”

She isn’t entirely wrong. During the group stage, Team USA had to face Italy and Czechia on back-to-back days – September 6 and 7. Then, during the knockout stage, they played Hungary on September 10, then Spain and France in their second back-to-back of the tournament on September 12 and 13. That’s three games in four days.

That’s also likely why her role was reduced as the tournament continued, and her defense dipped significantly. Over the three knockout-stage games, she averaged 0.7 steals per game and failed to record a block. Her minutes dropped too; she averaged 19.3 minutes per game during the group stage, compared with 13.3 in the knockout stage, including just three minutes against France in the final.

The Wings have already taken steps to keep her health in check. According to head coach Jose Fernandez, Bueckers sat out the team’s practice on September 15 to give her rest, and she saw minimal work on the next day, something that Fernandez described as “a good 15-20 minutes of work” on the court.

According to Fernandez, Bueckers is expected to be “full go” at the team’s shootaround ahead of the Wings’ first game back from the World Cup break against the Los Angeles Sparks on September 17.

As the Wings look to make it back to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, Bueckers’ health is key. The team has already lost perhaps its best perimeter defender, rookie Azzi Fudd, due to a season-ending injury, and losing Bueckers would rob them of their best offensive player too. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her play limited minutes, especially since Dallas has already clinched a playoff spot, but only time will tell if the injury ends up playing a big part this season.