Being Sidelined With ACL Injury for a Season, What’s the NIL Value of Paige Bueckers?

Paige Bueckers has secured numerous rich agreements in NIL, but her profits have yet to reach their full potential. Her earnings were suspended for a time due to her long-term inaction on social media, but her marketing team made a herculean effort to preserve her rank in NIL and improved her net worth.

Paige was well-known in the women’s basketball community long before she enrolled at UConn. Unfortunately, her winning streak was cut short by an ACL rupture, which cost her a season. Buecker confirmed that she will return for the 2023 NCAA season. But her court absence had a significant impact on Uconn’s performance. Even without playing for a year or more, she is ranked second overall in ESPN’s mock draft, which explains Buecker’s supremacy on the court and her brand value.

Paige Bueckers’ NIL earnings

Bueckers missed 19 games during the 2021-2022 season due to a knee injury, but she fully recovered and helped UConn reach the NCAA championship game. Unfortunately, she didn’t play in the 2022-2023 season due to an ACL injury, but she’s returning in 2023-2024. Despite these setbacks, Bueckers has managed to establish a prominent NIL portfolio, working with leading companies such as Bose, Crocs, Gatorade, and others. She is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding student-athletes in college sports.

Bueckers has secured the 4th position in the global NIL ranking, earning $643k in lucrative NIL deals. She also has a considerable following on social media, with a total of 1.6 million followers. Recently, Bueckers signed a NIL agreement with Leaf Trading Cards to release a unique Leaf card, but the agreement’s terms remain undisclosed. Additionally, she has signed a contract with Nike.

Bueckers has collaborated with several companies, including Gatorade, Bose, and StockX, where she represents the brand as a brand ambassador. She has even introduced her own Gatorade bottle and established a long-term partnership with Bose. She is back from ACL recovery, and is expected to double her earnings in the upcoming season.

Paige’s unexpected nightmare

Paige Bueckers’ life took an unexpected turn while playing casual basketball at the Werth Champions Center. In the middle of a sprint, her left leg gave out, making a popping sound and leaving her with a feeling that something was seriously wrong. She immediately went to the trainer’s room for a preliminary evaluation.

Later that day, she underwent an MRI, which confirmed her worst fears: she had torn her left knee’s ACL and would be out for the entire 2022-2023 season.

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Although she wasn’t fully aware of the severity of the injury, it forced her to take a pause in her successful NCAA career.

Bueckers’ hooping tale

Paige Bueckers graduated from Hopkins (Minnesota) High School as the No. 1 recruit in the country and has received numerous awards and accolades, including the 2019-2020 Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year, a 2020 McDonald’s, SLAM, and Jordan Brand Classic All-American, and the 2020 Naismith Prep Player of the Year.

She was also awarded the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup MVP and the 2019 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

Upon joining UConn, Bueckers did not disappoint. In her freshman year, she started in 29 games and became the first freshman to earn the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, AP Player of the Year, and USBWA Player of the Year.

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Paige led the team in points, assists, steals, and 3-point field goal percentage and helped UConn make it to the Final Four.