Soon-to-be second-year Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers recently opened up on the balance between being a star WNBA athlete and a regular, everyday adult.
It’s something she told the “What Drives Winning” podcast host Brett Ledbetter in various interviews that were compiled into one, long-form episode released Monday.
“It’s hard because the things that I mean I’ve changed my perspective from things happening to me to things happening for me,” Bueckers said. “And I’m proud of all the things that I’ve been through. And you don’t want to talk bad about other people because of situations that happened to you, but you realize how important it was to shaping who you are.”
Bueckers opted not to expand further, but did admit she learned a lot from those experiences in her rise to stardom.
Paige Bueckers Wants To Champion Mental Health
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Bueckers said. “I know there’s some things people look back on and regret, but everything happened for a reason. And I’m extremely grateful for that. And to be able to show like moments of weakness or times of struggle or in times of adversity and how much it grows you to be strong.”
Bueckers said she is still learning about how to stay true to herself and be unafraid of backlash for things that she believes, both personally and professionally.
“I think that’s something that you should be proud of, and to speak your truth in that is something I’m still learning to do,” Bueckers said.
Bueckers appears to be really happy with everything she’s doing. She’s busier than ever while continuing to explore Dallas and the community it has to offer. She’s being featured in advertisement campaigns, commercials, visiting her alma mater, and continuing to improve her skill set on the court, amongst some of the best players in the world.
Bueckers has a chance to keep improving both personally and professionally. It’s clear she realizes that she needs to continue to be a better version of herself as she gets older, and she understands that with a lot of eyes on her, she needs to be careful about the moves she makes and the things she says so her reputation can stay grounded.
It seems apparent that she’s doing the best she can with the resources she has. While she may have a lot to work through still, she recognizes that she’s going to grow and develop over time as she gets older and understands that she has a long career ahead of her and a long life to live. So maximizing it is her biggest priority.
We will see if she can keep this up, as this is one of the most vulnerable moments that she’s had publicly during her career so far.
