This week is riding high on enthusiasm as the WNBA held the draft lottery for the 2025 season on Sunday night. Surprisingly, the Dallas Wings swept the first overall pick: the Husky guard Paige Bueckers, as projected by many mock drafts so far. With this conversation taking center stage, the UConn alumni and WNBA legend Sue Bird shared her experience of her WNBA draft in 2002.

In the recent episode of A Touch More podcast, Sue Bird went blunt with the thoughts she had at the time of her draft. She said, “If I’m being totally honest, I was like, ‘Well thank God it’s not Detroit!’ and that was really my only thought.”

Interestingly, the WNBA first implemented the draft lottery system in 2002. At that time, Bird was playing her last season at UConn, i.e. in the fall of 2001. Bird, who was also a No. 1 overall pick, recalled someone asking her if she knew which WNBA team got the first pick, which was Seattle. The other two teams that had the top 4 picks in that draft were Washington D.C. and Detroit.

However, there was one thing that Bird looked up to, i.e. going to Seattle means teaming up with Lauren Jackson. Simply put, having Jackson as her teammate on the professional stage was the highlight for her back then.

Now, if we look at today’s situation, college basketball athletes have to consider a lot more than that. Also, Bird, on her podcast, indicated that players like Bueckers are aware of everything, as she put it, “Paige probably has so much more of an awareness of all the teams that were in the lottery all the cities all the franchises, coaches are still being hired so that’s obviously a variable.” 

While she said that, the former #1 pick gives advice to the presumed future #1 pick.

Sue Bird put her focus on Paige Bueckers

Prior to her thoughts on the 2002 WNBA draft, Bird talked about the Dallas Wings having the best odds having won the lottery for the 2025 WNBA draft set to be held in April next year. And so, she further added that Dallas having the No. 1 pick, i.e. Paige Bueckers is not that shocking. She said, “A draft is a draft there was all kinds of odds and percentages.”

Then she moved on to weigh in the possibilities Bueckers can have with both – The Dallas Wings and the LA Sparks. From a basketball standpoint, Bird pointed out that there is no wrong place for the first pick to go, rather these teams are already set up for success.

Simply put, if Bueckers gets picked by LA, she would be joining forces with some great players like Dearica Hamby and Kia Nurse, and young players like Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson. On the other hand, with Dallas, she will be playing alongside standout veterans like Arike Ogunbowale, who is a magnificent backcourt force for the Wings.

Teaming up with them will be a legit deal, as Bird said, “If you look at big threes across the league if Dallas does have Paige because of the number one pick, Arike (Ogunbowale), who’s already there and they resign Satou (Sabally), that big three will be up there with all the other big threes.”

Hence, however, may the draft goes next year, Bueckers still has a young 2024-25 NCAA season to play in and with that, she will have another year of eligibility left at UConn. So, if it comes to it, Bueckers can return to Storrs if she feels like playing one more year before going pro in the W.