Candace Parker States 'Unfavorable' Part of Paige Bueckers Rookie of the Year Case
While expectations were high for Dallas Wings star rookie Paige Bueckers' rookie WNBA season, she has exceeded what most people thought she could accomplish at this point in her first professional basketball campaign.
She is currently averaging 18.4 points (on 45.2% shooting from the field), 5.4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game with the Wings (who have a 9-24 record) to this point. Bueckers also earned a trip to her first-ever WNBA All-Star Game and has cemented herself as one of the league's most talented guards.
However, she isn't alone in the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year Award race, as several first-year players have played great to this point. Most would agree that Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron is Bueckers' biggest competition for the award, given that she's averaging 14.8 points in 47.1% shooting from the field to this point.
Candace Parker Assesses Paige Bueckers' WNBA Rookie of the Year Case
WNBA legend Candace Parker's most recent Post Moves podcast with Aliyah Boston was released on August 13. And at one point in the episode, Parker sent a strong message about Bueckers' case for winning Rookie of the Year.
"Paige has missed a couple games, she has missed seven games. But head-to-head, [her and Citron's] stats are 22 and a half for Sonia, 18 and a half for Paige... Obviously, that's just head-to-head. Overall stats, Paige gets the nod," Parker said. She later added, "Sonia is like, 'Listen, everybody had you as a preseason Rookie of the Year favorite, Paige.' But the last six games, [Citron] is putting it up for debate.
"I think the only unfavorable kind of check on Paige's side is that she has missed seven games. There are no such rules in the WNBA of an amount of games that you have to play to be eligible to play for postseason awards," Parker continued. "Paige is having herself a season. It's just a matter of her being on the court, is what all of us want to see."
"I think give the nod to Paige for Rookie of the Year. But Sonia, make me change my ways," Parker concluded.
Candace Parker on the WNBA ROTY race:
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) August 13, 2025
"Sonia is like, "Listen, everybody had you as a preseason ROTY favorite, Paige. But the last six games, she is putting it up for debate. I give the nod to Paige but Sonia, make me change my ways" pic.twitter.com/PBHEm0c6lA
While the Wings and the Mystics don't play each other against for the rest of this season, both Citron and Bueckers will have several more games to continue making their case for the Rookie of the Year Award, so long as both can remain healthy.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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