When Caitlin Clark entered the WNBA in 2024 as the Indiana Fever’s No. 1 overall pick, she didn’t just join the league; she redefined it.
Her presence alone doubled league-wide viewership from 2023 (for ION), igniting a level of hype and mainstream attention the WNBA hadn’t seen before. But now, there’s a new star rising, and her name is Paige Bueckers.
Drafted as the first overall pick by the Dallas Wings in 2025, Bueckers is starting to create her own wave, and this time, it’s hitting the WNBA ticket market like a tidal force.
Paige Bueckers Giving Competition to Caitlin Clark
According to StubHub, league-wide ticket sales are up approximately 145% compared to last season. However, no team has felt the “Bueckers Effect” quite like the Dallas Wings. Sales on StubHub for Wings games have surged by an eye-popping 351%, the biggest spike in the entire league.
Simply put, fans are turning out in droves to see Bueckers hit the court, and that’s putting serious pressure on Clark’s standing as the league’s primary draw.
In terms of demand, the Wings now rank as the fifth hottest ticket in the WNBA. Considering how dominant Clark has been in the headlines, the Wings’ rapid rise with Bueckers at the helm is raising eyebrows, and for good reason.
To understand why this matters, it’s important to look at the context. StubHub reported last year that ticket sales for the 2024 WNBA regular season were nearly 10 times higher than the 2023 season.
Every team in the league experienced a sales boost, but the Fever stood above the rest. Thanks to Clark, they moved 90 times more tickets than they did the previous year. That benchmark made Clark the face of a new WNBA era.
But now, with Bueckers beginning her pro journey in Dallas, there’s early speculation that she could eventually match — or even exceed — Clark’s ticket-selling power. While it’s too early to crown her just yet, the explosive increase in Wings ticket sales is a strong signal that fans are eager to witness Bueckers in action, and they’re willing to pay a premium to do so.
Adding fuel to the fire is how both players have already proven their impact in terms of viewership. Clark’s WNBA playoff debut with the Fever against the Connecticut Sun became ESPN’s most-watched WNBA game ever with an average viewership of 1.8 million viewers.
Meanwhile, Bueckers’ showdown against South Carolina in the NCAA championship ranked as the third-most watched women’s national title game in history at the time. Whether Bueckers will eventually outshine Clark in sales remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the WNBA just got a lot more competitive both on and off the court.
Bueckers Skips Clark-Related Question After 1st Preseason Game
Bueckers had a bumpy start to her WNBA career as the Wings were defeated by the Las Vegas Aces (112-78) in a preseason matchup on May 2.
Following the game, Bueckers took questions from the media and was asked whether her rookie class feels pressure to live up to the much-hyped 2024 WNBA Draft class, which is a group that includes big-name stars like Clark.
Instead of directly addressing the comparison, Bueckers sidestepped the question with a poised response, shifting the focus to her team’s internal goals and growth.
“No expectations. I feel like that comes from an outside source, so just building with the team here, trying to get better every single day, like I talk about every single time. And don’t worry about expectations. Don’t set yourself to a ceiling of what you can achieve—just try to be better and win the day,” Bueckers said during the interview.
love this answer from p she said it perfectly she’s a winner she knows what it takes to play at the highest level this is such a good mindset to have and she’s so mature. pic.twitter.com/F4l7nIoJlD
— aysia (@aysiacchanell) May 3, 2025
Despite the loss, Bueckers showed flashes of promise in her first outing as a professional. She finished the night with 10 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes of action, offering a glimpse of her talent and composure.