On the night she became the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, an old picture of Paige Bueckers has begun making the rounds.
The photo and the tweet that contain it are from September 24, 2013. It was posted to X (then Twitter) by Minneapolis photojournalist Gary Knox, with the tweet reading, "Remember the name: Paige Bueckers. 6th grade, think Diana Taurasi. Best 6th grade G I've ever seen. St. Louis Park."
A WNBA team would be wise to hire Knox as a scout.
The tweet is below.
Remember the name: Paige Bueckers. 6th grade, think Diana Taurasi. Best 6th grade G I've ever seen. St. Louis Park. pic.twitter.com/BHr72kA3lR
— Gary Knox (@gPrep) September 25, 2013
Since then, Bueckers has gone on to be a McDonald's All-American, national high school player of the year, a three-time first-team All-American in college and the national player of the year in 2001. She also led UConn to a national championship this year before entering the WNBA draft.
Knox recently discussed the photo with The Athletic. He ran a preps basketball website in Minnesota back then and the Bueckers tweet didn't garner much attention until years later. He was at an open gym where his daughter was playing when he spotted Bueckers.
"A couple of parents were coming around [saying], ‘Hey, have you seen the sixth-grader over there?' I said, 'No, what sixth-grader?' And then I looked around and then all of a sudden it was, 'Oh, yeah. I see exactly who you’re talking about.' She was just over there putting in work and doing her thing on the sophomore/freshman court."
That's a very cool moment captured years before Bueckers became a national sensation.
More WNBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Photo of Young Paige Bueckers Goes Viral Ahead of 2025 WNBA Draft.
