Paige Bueckers, then 19 years old, got on stage at the nationally televised 2021 ESPY Awards show in New York City after winning Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports and demanded change.
In a scene that has been replayed on timeless occasions across social media, Bueckers used her own milestone moment to speak about racial disparities in sports business. Specifically, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball star asked for more sponsorship dollars and media opportunities to go to Black players.
In hindsight, this was Bueckers laying the foundation for her strategy around name, image and likeness (NIL), which the NCAA only started to permit earlier that month. Bueckers, who signed with talent agency Wasserman soon after the speech, has earned more than a million dollars in NIL deals and used her own fame to ensure those in her considerable orbit benefit, too.
The top WNBA prospect often presses brands to include her lesser-known teammates on specific deals while using her platform to grow the pipeline for minority content creators and advertisers. Even as mainstream conversation about racial issues has taken a sharp turn in the years since her speech—President Donald Trump was elected on a platform that explicitly pledged to end DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) measures—Bueckers has not wavered in her beliefs.
“I live with white privilege every single day,” Bueckers said in a phone interview. “I’ve seen the effects of discrimination. I don’t face racism, but I’ve seen the important people in my life—a lot of my teammates, friends and family—dealing with it. I benefit from white privilege, so voicing that has been important to me since I was young.”
The speech gave the public a glimpse into her core values, according to her agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas.
“The opportunity with Paige is about demonstrating what you can and should do with power,” Colas said in a video interview. “That’s the primary driver of her business… Every time we’re making a decision; we’re thinking about the ripple effect across the ecosystem from grassroots to the pros.”
In the world of NIL, where seven-figure brand deals and transfer portal compensation packages drive conversations, the philanthropic mission behind athletes is often overlooked. As one of the first college basketball stars to cash in on multiyear deals in the NIL boom, Bueckers has created a blueprint for what an athlete in the NIL era can achieve for herself and others.
Chegg Inc. made Bueckers its first college athlete brand ambassador, and the company’s nonprofit arm powers her pop-up grocery markets and local pantries in Connecticut geared toward addressing food insecurity. Meanwhile, her deal with Bose calls for the audio giant to donate its products to creative projects involving young people of color.
The Minnesota native is also prioritizing investment in women’s sports and gaining equity positions. She is a limited partner with upstart women’s basketball league Unrivaled as well as Overtime, where she serves as an advisor for its new girls basketball league (Overtime Select) to help increase its visibility.
Bueckers also has a stake in beauty brand Madison Reed, which signed three of her teammates (Azzi Fudd, Ice Brady and Morgan Cheli) as part of a wider-ranging deal with UConn athletics.
She made sure her teammates got trading card deals in conjunction with her signing an exclusive, multiyear deal with Panini America, which was the first time the collectibles company has done that. Bueckers also brought in her teammates, KK Arnold and Fudd, through her ongoing partnership with skincare brand CeraVe. Epic Games (Fortnite) is another company that has agreed to partner with Bueckers’ teammates.
“Male athletes have done incredible things with their resources,” Colas said. “LeBron James has taken things to another level with the I Promise School and Russell Westbook with his development (project) in LA. I love those things, but that’s with hundreds of millions of dollars. But to set out on day one and dollar one, saying this is the business? That’s important, and you’re going to see more of that.”
Opendorse co-founder Blake Lawrence, whose marketplace platform brokered Bueckers’ NIL deal with Dunkin’, said the UConn player strikes him “as a professional that happens to be playing college sports.”
Since the advent of NIL, Bueckers has inked deals with more than 25 companies, including Verizon and Gatorade. Nearly half those are multiyear deals with plans to extend into the WNBA, similar to what former Iowa star Caitlin Clark did with insurance company State Farm. Bueckers recently became the first Nike NIL athlete to design her own pair of player edition basketball shoes (Paige Bueckers G.T. Hustle 3).
By now, Bueckers knows the busy routine well. Back in Storrs, Conn., NIL activity isn’t permitted on game day or the day prior, with basketball remaining as the main priority besides academics. Therefore, she must weave her commercial obligations in between her class schedule and recovery sessions similarly to the way she splits defenders before getting a bucket.
“She puts up crazy numbers in a game, then the next day, it’s hair and makeup, doing a 5 a.m. photo shoot for a commercial,” UConn associate athletic director of external operations and NIL strategy Cat Zuppani said in a phone interview. “All while doing well in school.”
The infrastructure at UConn provides a competitive advantage and contributes to the success the senior point guard has had in her college career. The Huskies are arguably the nation’s top women’s program with a record 11 national titles and four Wooden Award winners, including Bueckers. She has the distinction of being the first to usher in this pro-version chapter of the sport in a way Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart never could.
“We’ve learned a lot,” Zuppani, who has been at UConn for eight years, added. “Most of these companies and corporations are used to working with pros. We still have team polices and NCAA rules, what you can and cannot do during games and other things we must navigate. But it’s been an incredible learning experience on how to work with them and marketing agencies. There are so many people involved.”
Once Bueckers reaches the WNBA, she will make herself available to help the next generation of UConn women’s basketball stars capitalize on commercial opportunities.
Until then, her schedule is set to get tighter as she tries to lift the Huskies to their first national championship since 2016. Throughout the NCAA Tournament, Bueckers will appear on TV commercials and social media campaigns that make her arguably the biggest name in women’s college sports.
“By the end of the NCAA Tournament, she will be the most marketable college athlete in the country,” Lawerence added. “She will eclipse [LSU gymnast] Livvy Dunne in terms of household name, popularity and brand value.”
Though she still has an additional year of NCAA eligibility, Bueckers is expected to enter the 2025 WNBA Draft, where she will likely be taken at No. 1 by the Dallas Wings.
When Bueckers leaves UConn for the pro game, she will look to carry the same values from her ESPYs speech to the next level.
“NIL is about building your brand, image and wealth,” Bueckers said. “But I want more of my legacy in the NIL space to be about what did she share with others? How did you she give back to people who’ve given so much back to her?”
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