One of the tragedies of the 2025 WNBA season was that fans really missed out on what was expected to be a dynamic on-court rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. Clark, who was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever in 2024, and Bueckers, who was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Dallas Wings in 2025, have grown up playing basketball against one another for years — and their first professional season together was highly anticipated.
Unfortunately, Clark suffered a series of injuries that began in May 2025 and she never fully recovered long enough to truly be able to go up against Bueckers in the way that Wings, Fever, and women's basketball fans in general would have wanted to see. Instead, fans are hoping a new CBA will be signed between the league and the players, and then Bueckers and Clark can get down to court business.
Despite the fact that it's been pretty clear the rivalry between the pair really only exists on the hardwood, some fans have long looked for proof that Clark and Bueckers don't get along well in real life. Bueckers attempted to shut that narrative down during an appearance on Kylie Kelce's "Not Gonna Lie" podcast and had nothing but positive things to say about her Team USA teammate.
"A lot of us, me and Caitlin even played together on the Junior Olympic level when we were younger, we were in high school and it was always a fun time,” Bueckers said. She also added, "It’s crazy because everyone’s pitting me and Caitlin against each other for the longest time. And we’re cool, we’re friends. But again, it’s respect to the competition so we understand that. We understand how media works and how they want to pit two people against each other and they’re supposed to hate each other, and blah blah blah. So we all understand that, and it’s all in the love of the game."
“But at the same time, to have two fanbases that really hate each other have to come together for a couple months will be really fun," she also said. "Everybody will just have to get along for a little bit.”
Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers may play big roles in 2028
Plenty of fans are hoping that Team USA's managing director Sue Bird and head coach Kara Lawson will put both Clark and Bueckers on the team that will play against the rest of the world when the Olympic Games kick off in Los Angeles in 2028. The duo joined Angel Reese, Kiki Iriafen, Sonia Citron, and more when they both made their senior national team camp debut in December 2025.