The Dallas Wings’ season may have spiraled to the bottom of the standings, but Paige Bueckers’ rookie year still created a storyline fans were waiting to see unfold off the court: her long-teased glam-and-game reunion with former teammate. What looked like a fun, personality-driven subplot heading into Unrivaled has now collided with harsh reality, forcing Bueckers to address both her Breeze BC move and the unexpected wrinkle involving her ex-Wings running mate.

To understand how things reached this point, the Wings finished a rough 10-34 season despite Bueckers’ standout rookie campaign. The No. 1 pick averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds en route to the Rookie of the Year award, even as Dallas reshuffled its roster mid-season. One such change was the trade that sent a key player, DiJonai Carrington, to the Minnesota Lynx.

Carrington’s time with the Wings saw her averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds before moving to Minnesota, where her numbers adjusted to 8.6 points and 2.1 rebounds as she adapted to a new system. However, her 2025 playoff run with the Lynx ended suddenly when she suffered a significant left mid-foot sprain against the Golden State Valkyries. The injury required surgery, extended rehab, and ultimately removed her from Unrivaled’s upcoming season, directly cutting into the reunion Bueckers had been hinting at for weeks.

Transitioning to life without her former teammate for the winter league hasn’t been easy for Bueckers, especially considering the plans they’d already made. The UConn star didn’t hide her excitement about teaming up again, not just on the court but in the makeup chair. “She wants to beautify me and do the whole makeup routine and glam session,” Bueckers revealed. “We haven’t yet. Maybe at Unrivaled we can get to that.” She even credited Carrington with putting her onto the One/Size setting spray, explaining, “Everybody’s like, ‘Your makeup always sticks during the game. How does it stay?’ One/Size was the product that she uses.”

The timing of the injury makes this even more unfortunate, especially as Bueckers prepares for her first season with the Breeze Basketball Club in Unrivaled. The league, co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, added Breeze as one of its new franchises, and they immediately made Bueckers their No. 1 pick. With the coin toss in their favor, they built around her with rising stars Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson, Kate Martin, Aari McDonald, and Dominique Malonga under the guidance of Noelle Quinn. This structure gives Bueckers a young, energetic core, which she addressed directly: “When you’re young, you’re playing with the edge, playing with a chip on your shoulder.”

From an analytical standpoint, the Breeze are strategically positioned as the league’s youth-driven disruptor. Their roster construction mirrors a modern developmental approach, high-upside players, versatile wings, and a creative scorer-playmaker like Bueckers, who already has All-WNBA Second Team credentials under her belt. Carrington’s absence removes a veteran-style presence from Paige’s circle, but it also forces the No. 1 pick into an even larger leadership role, both on and off the court.

Paige Bueckers Reflects on Growth After UConn: A Foundation for Leadership

Bueckers’s recent return to UConn further shaped her approach to this next chapter. Her relationship with Geno Auriemma has noticeably transformed since her college days. Once defined by demanding expectations, it has mellowed into mutual respect and familiarity.

She returned to Storrs for the national championship ring ceremony, but the visit meant more than just collecting hardware. “He’s a lot nicer to me now that I’m not a player there,” Bueckers joked. “We picked up right where we left off for sure.” Practicing with the current Huskies only highlighted that shift. “I was a practice player, so it was fun to kind of beat up on [Auriemma] and the team… You really feel no pressure. You’re out there just having fun, and the other team is getting yelled at.”

Her college foundation proved invaluable. As a rookie, she became an All-Star starter and an All-WNBA Second Team selection, numbers and accolades that already project her toward long-term elite status. But Dallas’s last-place finish showed that even generational talent can’t accelerate a rebuild alone. That reality makes her Breeze BC role even more intriguing: a chance to lead a young roster, test her voice in a new environment, and step into the star-powered ecosystem of Unrivaled.

Now, as Carrington focuses on her recovery and Bueckers leans into her new responsibility, Unrivaled becomes more than a winter stopover; it becomes the stage where she must balance fun, fashion, and franchise-level expectation without the teammate who helped shape her on and off the floor.