“Just decided to come visit my twin,” Paige Bueckers stated during an in-game interview when Nika Muhl’s Seattle Storm battled the Chicago Sky in early July this year. The duo, having played at the University of Connecticut together, always looked to support each other. And instead of calling each other competitors and trying to lead the Huskies, the two decided to call each other “twins.” However, a recent development, just hours after congratulating Muhl for her first bucket, could become a bone of contention in their otherwise peaceful bond.

Bueckers took to her Instagram stories on Friday to wish her teammate Jana El Alfy on her birthday. Making a collage out of their pictures, the Minnesota-born wished Alfy by tagging her and captioning the story as “Happy birthday to my Lego Partna & 1/3 Roomie. Love you EL ALFY.” The pictures showed the closeness between Bueckers and Alfy and how the two have been with each other through various moments in their short career together. However, if fans are to be believed, this might hurt Muhl.

El Alfy is a new star for the Huskies who couldn’t play in the 2023-24 NCAA season due to an injury. She had enrolled with the Huskies but has grown closer to Bueckers after Muhl and Aliyah Edwards were drafted by their respective WNBA teams.

Although Paige Bueckers’ latest Instagram story shows her connection with Alfy, Muhl and the Minneapolis native developed a bond when the two committed to the Huskies during the 2020 season. The pandemic saw limited opportunities to socialize as the two roommates started understanding each other. While Bueckers was the No. 1 recruit in the country and instantly came into the limelight, Muhl did the work of supporting her best friend without ever letting their status in the team come in between. Over the years, the duo became inseparable.

Then when the Huskies won the Big East tournament this season, an emotional Muhl couldn’t ask for more. Taking notice of their friendship, the Seattle Storm star thanked Geno Auriemma for recruiting them together and bringing them to Storrs, where Bueckers became a “best friend, my sister” to the Croatian talent. And now that Bueckers has wished Alfy on her birthday just hours after a complimentary post for Muhl, the latter might be a little jealous. Or will she?

Paige Bueckers lauds Nika Muhl

While Muhl decided to declare for the 2024 WNBA draft, Bueckers still stuck to her college in order to pursue her dream of going for the national title. The Croatia-star, initially expected to have a hard time in the W, was chosen by the Seattle Storm in the second round. But going into the country’s biggest women’s basketball league came with its own bumps for Muhl. The fourteenth-overall pick showed some potential in the preseason game against the Phoenix Mercury, scoring 6 points in the 20 minutes she played. However, when she took the court for the Storm during the regular season, her points dried out.

Hence, when Muhl scored her first basket in her sixteenth game for the Storm, Bueckers celebrated the moment. Muhl, while playing in the last regular season game for Storm, stole the ball and hit a difficult layup in the fourth quarter in the recently concluded game against the Mercury, and Bueckers was all praises for her sister. “First bucket twinnnnnnnnnnn,” Bueckers tweeted on Thursday, and hence just hours after her congratulatory message.

Whether Muhl will respond to Bueckers’s latest development remains to be seen, but one thing is clear – Muhl has found a perfect friend in Bueckers, who she wouldn’t be willing to let go.