Paige Bueckers’s rookie season hasn’t been easy. She’s had to endure a lot of losses with her new team and missed significant time due to a concussion. Nevertheless, Bueckers has been able to remind people why she was the undisputed number-one pick. Her 35-point performance against the Phoenix Mercury put her back into a Rookie of the Year race that had been dominated by Mystics players Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron.
Despite a rookie season that has been anything but smooth, Bueckers’ potential is obvious. Soon enough, she will be an All-Star and a franchise player. According to Arike Ogunbowale, Bueckers already has one crucial skill that will ensure her long-term success in the WNBA.
When Sue Bird interviewed Ogunbowale on her podcast Bird’s Eye View, she asked her which part of Bueckers’s game would help her most in the future.
“The midi,” Ogunbowale said without hesitation. “she’s got the midi perfected…That’s so hard to guard. So, I think her having that, and obviously, she can shoot from far, but her having that midi is definitely huge for sure.”
Arike Ogunbowale knows what it takes to become an elite scorer
Arike Ogunbowale is primarily known for two things in WNBA circles: her handles and her ability to score in any situation. Ogunbowale has been a consistent 20-point scorer over her career, led the WNBA in scoring in the 2020 season, and won two All-Star MVP awards for her big scoring performances against Team USA in 2021 and 2024. She is one of the best guard scorers in the WNBA and knows exactly what it takes to get there. Fans can definitely trust her judgment of Bueckers’s scoring ability.
The Wings may not be winning a lot, but Bueckers can learn plenty from playing with Ogunbowale and use this season to work on her scoring. Bueckers is a great playmaker and loves setting up her teammates, but to succeed in the WNBA, she will also have to look for her shot and be an aggressive scorer.
Three-level scorers are difficult to stop
There are many ways to put together a successful WNBA career. For a guard of Bueckers’s caliber, becoming a true three-level scorer is one way to ensure long-term success. Guards who can get to the rim, hit difficult shots in the mid-range, and make threes are incredibly difficult to guard.
The mid-range is arguably the most difficult of those skills to master, but it is worth the effort. A good mid-range shot can often be the key to saving a possession, creating offense out of nothing, and punishing defenses that choose to protect the rim.
In her young WNBA career, Bueckers has already shown that she can be a three-level scorer. She has been an efficient scorer from pretty much all over the court. She is currently shooting 37.5 percent in the five to nine feet range, making three of her eight attempts. That marks her worst shooting percentage. She is shooting over 40 percent in any other area between less than five feet away from the basket and 29 feet away.
While Bueckers still has to prove that she can be a consistent three-level scorer for a full season, she is already setting the foundation for a long, successful WNBA career.