TRENDING: First Caitlin Clark-Paige Bueckers WNBA clash teases cinematic potential: ‘Everybody wants to see star players’who shine and not decline no matter what…

First Caitlin Clark-Paige Bueckers WNBA clash teases cinematic potential: ‘Everybody wants to see star players’
Sunday’s game between Clark’s Indiana Fever and Bueckers’ Dallas Wings got out of hand, but it began as can’t-miss TV

During Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White’s playing days, the WNBA’s marquee games featured three-time MVPs Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie, a duo that planted the seeds for what the league could someday become.

More than two decades later, the WNBA is blossoming with another pairing taking center stage in front of a new generation of players and fans.

“In my day, it’s watching Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie, and in their day it’s watching Caitlin [Clark] and Paige [Bueckers],” White said pregame Sunday.

She noted earlier: “Everybody wants to see star players. You think about who tunes in to watch LeBron [James] and Steph [Curry]. It’s those kinds of matchups.”

Sunday marked the first time Clark, a second-time All-Star with the Fever, and Bueckers, a first-time All-Star with the Dallas Wings, have faced off professionally.

From the second quarter on, the head-to-head wasn’t nearly as close as the prolific guards’ last meeting in college, a thrilling Final Four showdown in 2024 that saw Clark’s Iowa team outlast Bueckers’ UConn squad.

This time around, Clark’s crew pulled away for a runaway win, as a balanced Fever attack overwhelmed the rebuilding Wings in a lopsided second frame before Indiana ultimately polished off a 102-83 victory.

The first quarter, however, was a peek of what could be on the way.

Those 10 minutes were a back-and-forth boxing match between the WNBA’s past two No. 1 overall picks, who double as global phenomena with a combined 6.2 million Instagram followers.

Less than two minutes into the game, Clark read Bueckers like a book, stealing her pass, zooming down the court and depositing a layup. It wasn’t long before Bueckers countered with a 29-foot 3-pointer right in front of Clark.

They each had seven points and two assists in the opening quarter. Clark finished with 14 points and 13 assists and tied a single-game career high with 5 steals. Bueckers bettered her 18.1 points per game scoring average with 21 points, plus 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

“It’s fun anytime we can compete against each other,” Bueckers said postgame.

“We’re two competitors who just want to win and who have grown up playing against each other, playing with each other. So it’s great.”

Indiana Fever Caitlin Clark (22) before the game hugs Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) on July 13, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Caitlin Clark missed the Fever’s previous game against the Wings, making Sunday’s game her first professional matchup with Paige Bueckers.

Before Clark and Bueckers played each other in the 2024 NCAA tournament and before the duo squared off in the 2021 Sweet 16, the former top-five high school prospects were teammates on USA Basketball’s youth squads. Together, they won gold at the 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup.

Bueckers went from Minnetonka, Minnesota, to Storrs, Connecticut, to star for Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies. Clark made the much shorter in-state trip from West Des Moines to Iowa City to star for Lisa Bluder and the Hawkeyes.

Bueckers won Naismith College Player of the Year as a freshman. Clark won that same award twice, in her final two years at Iowa, during which she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer. While Clark’s popularity launched further than her logo 3s, Bueckers recovered from a pair of devastating injuries: the first a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear in her left knee in December 2021, and the second a torn ACL in the same knee in August 2022.

Although they crossed paths in 2024, Clark turned pro after that season, whereas Bueckers ran things back at UConn to win a national championship in April.

“We’ve always been friends,” Clark said pregame Sunday. “I wouldn’t say we’re best friends and talk all the time. It’s hard when you end up going your separate ways and are at different colleges.

“I’ve always been a fan of hers, I’ve always been supportive. I watch as much as I can just ’cause I love basketball, and I love the people that compete and make their team better, and that’s what she’s always been able to do.”

Clark won WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2024; Bueckers is on pace to claim the award in 2025.

While Clark hiccuped turnovers at times during her first season in the league, Bueckers has been remarkably efficient for a new pro. Granted, she tied a season high with four giveaways Sunday, but she entered Gainbridge Fieldhouse averaging only 2.2 turnovers per game this season while shooting 44.7% from the field and 87.5% from the free throw line.

Before Sunday’s game, Clark said Bueckers “plays way older than she is” and stays true to not forcing things.

That remained the case against the Fever on Sunday when Bueckers went 9 of 15, including 2 of 4 from long range.

“She always stays neutral,” White said after the game. “She doesn’t get rushed. Her pace, her poise, her decision-making. She just has a very neutral mindset. And when you play somebody who has a really high IQ and who is elite in all areas, and you try to make them uncomfortable, but they kind of just maintain that flow, it makes it tough. That’s the difference in good players and great players. It’s fun to watch — not as an opponent on the other sideline. But for a lot of young players that come into this league, there’s a learning curve. And how quickly they figure it out is always interesting to see. And for Paige, she’s figuring it out.”

Bueckers is her own harshest critic.

After Sunday’s 19-point loss, she said she could have done a better job of calling for the Wings to get back on transition defense. She knows, though, that she’s just beginning a long WNBA career, on a 6-16 team that’s still growing.

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Paige Bueckers #5 of the UConn Huskies look on in the second half during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 05, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers matched up twice in college in the NCAA tournament, with each taking one game.

“There’s no skipping steps to building what we want to build here,” Bueckers said. “And adversity, everybody goes through adversity. That’s why when teams win the championship, they talk about the adversity that they face to get to it.”

Bueckers continued: “So there’s no skipping steps, and we’re not going to get out of who we are, get out of our process, get out of what we do every single day just because the results haven’t shown up yet.”

Clark knows that message like the back of her hand. Last year, her Fever started the season 1-8 before finishing 20-20 and making a playoff push.

“I think just her leadership,” Clark said of Bueckers. “You could feel that, especially at UConn and now coming to the W, I feel like she’s certainly a leader of the Wings, whether it was her first game or now in game 20, I think she’s been that voice for them.”

That was evident when Bueckers spoke up postgame after her head coach, Chris Koclanes, was asked about the shooting troubles four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale experienced in her first game back from a thumb injury.

Before the next question, Bueckers chimed in, saying that Ogunbowale showed better poise handling in-game struggles Sunday than she had all season.

“It might not have been her night shooting the ball, but the way she continued to stay in the game and not let it affect her effort on both ends of the floor, like her being a leader of this team, that was huge for me to be able to see that,” Bueckers said with a seriousness in her eyes that commanded the visiting team’s interview room inside Gainbridge.

Clark has a year of professional experience on Bueckers, so it could be another season before Bueckers’ team flirts with contention like Clark’s.

Sunday, though, was a preview of what’s to come: a cinematic basketball clash that could rival those of not only Swoopes and Leslie but also LeBron and Steph.