Just when you thought Kelsey Plum couldn’t overshadow Paige Bueckers’ career-high night any further, the stat sheets kept finding new ways to twist the knife further. First, Plum hijacked the postgame spotlight with her buzzer-beater, game-winning 2, and now? Paige can’t even celebrate the fact that she just authored the most efficient 40-point game in WNBA history. What we saw was flat-out bonkers. Across league history, there have been 39 different occasions where a player poured in 40 or more. Thirty-nine, and on only one of those nights did someone shoot north of 80%. That someone is Paige Bueckers, and here’s what the list looks like-

Sure, Paige Bueckers might not have scored the highest, but she did it with an efficiency that doesn’t even feel real. But don’t pop the champagne just yet, because it is not W’s best yet for a 40-point game. That place belongs to, you guessed it, Kelsey Plum. For context, Paige’s true shooting percentage (TS%) last night was ridiculous 93.1%. However, back in 2023 against the Lynx, Kelsey Plum went nuclear.

She scored 40 points on 14-for-18 shooting (77.8%), sprinkled in four assists and two rebounds, drilled 6-of-9 from deep, nailed all six free throws, and finished +26 in just under 31 minutes. This resulted in an absurd 96.9% true shooting. “A lot of people sometimes average 20 (points) with 20 shots,” Kelsey Plum’s teammate Gray said. “She had 40 with 18 (shots). That’s unbelievable.” And for those wondering what “true shooting” even means, here’s the cheat sheet: it’s basically the master key to efficiency.

Instead of just field-goal percentage, TS% measures how well a player turns every scoring attempt into points, factoring in free throws and threes. In short, it tells you who’s making the most out of every possession. So yes, Paige just authored one of the most efficient explosions in league history. But the crown for “single most efficient 40-piece ever” is still sitting on Kelsey Plum’s head. That’s not the only crown, though; she managed to bag another record that night…

Kelsey Plum Snatches Sparks’ 3-Point Crown

On the very same night that Paige Bueckers etched her name into efficiency lore, Plum casually scribbled her own into the Sparks’ record book. In the second quarter against Dallas, Plum drilled what would be her lone three-pointer of the game. That was just enough to give her Los Angeles’ all-time single-season record for made threes. The Sparks’ social team wasted no time celebrating: “KP making her mark as a Spark. Congrats to @Kelseyplum10 on recording the most three-pointers in franchise history.”

Plum entered the night tied at 81 with Kristi Toliver, who set the franchise mark back in 2016. Nine years later, and in her very first season with Los Angeles, Plum broke it in her 34th game. Kristi Toliver’s 81 came in 33 games, but the milestone now belongs solely to KP. And here’s the funny twist: she shot a miserable 1-for-9 from deep on the night. But that one mattered. It was record-breaking, season-defining, and just another example of Kelsey Plum’s knack for overshadowing big storylines.

Los Angeles as a team went 10-for-26 from beyond the arc against the Wings. Their rookie Rickea Jackson caught fire and knocked down six of those. That spacing was really critical in the 81-80 Sparks win that kept their postseason hopes breathing. Plum, meanwhile, still carried a heavy load: she finished with 20 points on 9-for-23 shooting, one three-pointer, and the satisfaction of knowing her franchise history plaque had been engraved.

The victory pushed the Sparks to 17–18. Now they are sitting ninth in the standings, just half a game behind the Seattle Storm for the final playoff spot. Overshadowing Paige Bueckers? Check. Breaking records? Check. Keeping playoff dreams alive? Double check.

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