Magic Johnson Makes His Opinion of Paige Bueckers Extremely Clear
At first glance, the Los Angeles Sparks seemed to have had the highest chances to land the 2025 WNBA Draft's No. 1 overall pick, as their 44.2% chances were the best out of any single team. But that doesn't tell the entire story.
The two teams with the next-best chances of securing that top pick — which was guaranteed to be Paige Bueckers, who was en route to winning an NCAA national championship with the UConn Huskies at that time — were the Dallas Wings and the Chicago Sky. The Wings had a 27.6% chance of getting the top pick while the Sky had a 17.8% chance.
However, the Wings traded Marina Mabrey to the Sky as part of a four-team trade back before the 2023 WNBA season began. In exchange, the Wings received the rights to swap their 2025 WNBA Draft 1st Round Picks with Chicago. Therefore, if the Sky got the draft's top pick, Dallas surely would have swapped picks with them.
Combining their and Chicago's chances of getting that No. 1 pick made it so that the Wings actually had a 45.4% chance, which was slightly better than Los Angeles' chances. And Dallas ultimately did earn the rights to that top pick and used it to draft Bueckers.
Magic Johnson's Paige Bueckers Stance Makes Sense
Paige Bueckers has gone on to produce an incredible rookie 2025 campaign, which included her dropping 44 points against the Sparks on August 20.
And in the wake of that, NBA legend and Sparks co-owner Magic Johnson sent an X post that read, "I have to give Page Bueckers some love for hitting 44 points in last night’s game, the most points by a rookie in WNBA history and the most points in a game by any player this season! 🔥".
I have to give Page Bueckers some love for hitting 44 points in last night’s game, the most points by a rookie in WNBA history and the most points in a game by any player this season! 🔥
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) August 21, 2025
Johnson clearly holds Bueckers' skillset in high regard. And how could he not? She has already proven that she's one of the league's most elite guards and can score in a variety of ways.
One would imagine that Magic is lamenting the fact that Los Angeles lost out on drafting Bueckers this past WNBA offseason. However, he can't be too upset, because the Sparks secured All-Star guard Kelsey Plum via trade earlier this year, and have a real shot at making the WNBA playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season.
Not to mention that Johnson's Los Angeles squad has other talented young players like Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson still on its roster.
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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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