There’s a clear connection between Paige Bueckers and Diana Taurasi: both were standout guards coached by Geno Auriemma at UConn, each playing a key role in national championship runs for the Huskies.
Taurasi, the No. 1 pick by the Phoenix Mercury in 2004, went on to win three WNBA titles and retire as the league’s all-time leading scorer earlier this year. Bueckers, also selected first overall—by the Dallas Wings just two months ago—is aiming to build a legacy of her own.
On Wednesday, Bueckers will rejoin the Wings lineup after missing four games, as the 1-9 team visits the 6-4 Mercury. To mark her return, she paid tribute to Taurasi by adjusting her uniform—wearing longer basketball shorts reminiscent of the style Taurasi and many players favored in the 2000s.
“I wore my shorts like this today in honor of DT,” Bueckers said Tuesday, while teammate DiJonai Carrington reacted with amusement. “The long short era.”
Bueckers was last in Phoenix for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, where Taurasi suited up for Team USA ahead of the Paris Olympics. Now, she’s back facing a retooled Mercury squad that boasts a 5-2 home record—offering Bueckers the chance to make her first major statement as a pro in the very arena where her basketball hero made history.
“That’s the house that DT built,” Bueckers said of PHX Arena. “She’s one of the greatest ever. I’ve looked up to her since I was a kid. It’s going to be surreal to play there.”
