What happened to Paige Bueckers? Latest news on UConn star’s injury, return date and WNBA Draft plans
A cruciate ligament tear is a heartbreaker for every athlete.
Especially one as transcendent as Paige Bueckers.
Buckers finished the 2021-22 season with a crown on his head, known as one of the best in women’s college basketball alongside Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Aliyah Boston of South Carolina after winning the National Team honors as a freshman last season of the year received.
But her triumphant return from a knee injury that cost her nearly three months of the 2021-22 campaign didn’t last long as the world of the UConn star guard collapsed in moments during a pickup game in early August 2022.
Here’s everything you need to know about her injury, her recovery timeline and her plans for the future:
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What is Paige Buckers injury?
Bückers tore his ACL on August 2, 2022 in said pickup game. According to the UConn blog, she had been running at full speed and was trying to stop when her left leg just gave out and she felt a pop. She knew immediately it was bad.
Initial tests did not reveal the full extent of the injury, and Bückers underwent an MRI that same night, allowing doctors to double- and triple-check before confirming her worst nightmare: she had torn the cruciate ligament in her left knee and was supposed to miss entire 2022/23 season.
When is Paige Buckers coming back?
A cruciate ligament tear is not a career-ending injury, just a pausing one.
Basketball players usually walk away from ACL injuries in about nine months. She was injured in August 2022 which would put her no later than May 2023 which would give her a summer to get back on track.
According to the UConn blog, she confirmed in September 2022 that she would not attempt to play even if her rehab was ahead of schedule. She felt that short-term decisions would only hurt her.
“I’m not going to play the season just because if I come back early something else will get hurt,” she said then. “I really just want to be 110% healthy before I ever play basketball again just because I never want to take a break like that in my career ever again.”
It’s not confirmed if a May return is in their exact schedule. Nobody really knows when Buckers will be back in the game, only that it will be before the 2023-24 NCAA season.
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When is Paige Buckers going to the WNBA?
There’s no question – Bückers won’t be entering the WNBA draft this summer, as many would assume based on her age.
The Minnesota native has said she is 100% committed to the Huskies and plans to return for their 2023-24 senior season. She still has work to do before moving up to the big leagues and three more years of college eligibility to do so.
MORE: Paige Buckers not planning WNBA move after injury: ‘I’m not going’
Paige Buckers career stats, honors
- Started in 42 of 46 games played
- Average of 33.6 minutes per game on the pitch
- Rookie National Player of the Year (2020–21)
- Guided UConn to the 2022 national championship game as a sophomore
- 18 points per game
- 4.5 rebounds per game
- 5.1 assists per game
- Set the school’s single-game assist record at Butler in February 2021 at 14
- He’s also the freshman-season record holder for total assists at 168
- A total of 22 blocks
- A total of 91 steals
- 53% field goal scoring
- 43.4% three-point shooting
- 83% free throw shooting