Analyst pinpoints one area Paige Bueckers' rookie season outshone Caitlin Clark's maiden year in WNBA

One year after Caitlin Clark emerged as a WNBA phenomenon, Paige Bueckers took the league by storm. According to one analyst, there was one area in which Bueckers actually outshone Clark's rookie performance.

In a piece published in The Athletic on Thursday, Sabreena Merchant pointed to one advanced stat that favors the Dallas Wings star.

"Although Bueckers had a worse net rating than Clark (minus-5.0 compared to minus-2.4), her on-off differential has been better in her rookie season," Merchant wrote.

"The Wings are 8.1 points per 100 possessions better with Bueckers on the court, demonstrating her impact, even if it hasn’t translated to victories."

Merchant also referred to win shares, another advanced stat that attempts to quantify a player’s contribution to team success.

"Win shares favor Bueckers as well, and she can build on her 3.5-3.0 lead in the final three games," Merchant added.

The analyst acknowledged that Clark has outperformed Bueckers in traditional “counting stats.” Clark put up 19.2 points per game on 52.2% shooting from the field, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists in 2024, while Bueckers is currently averaging 18.9 ppg on 50.4% shooting, 3.7 rpg and 5.3 apg.

According to Merchant, the next milestone for Bueckers is to “play in games of real consequence,” as Clark was able to lead the Indiana Fever to the playoffs during her rookie season. The Wings are bound for the WNBA lottery once again, but eventually, Bueckers’ growth and the arrival of another highly touted recruit could ignite a postseason run for Dallas.

Paige Bueckers achieves another feat reminiscent of Caitlin Clark's rookie season

On Wednesday, Bueckers added another accolade to an already extensive list of feats in her debut WNBA season. The Wings guard was named Rookie of the Month for the third consecutive time after averaging 20.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 5.0 apg in August.

In the 2025 season, Kiki Iriafen of the Washington Mystics is the only other rookie to clinch a Rookie of the Month award. Last year, Clark won the honor for each of the last three months of the regular season en route to securing Rookie of the Year.

About the author

Simoun Victor Redoblado is an NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda with over 12 years of experience writing for publications such as Collider, ALL-STAR Magazine, and Sir Charles in Charge.

Simoun has a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education, Major in English and Minor in journalism. Thanks to the journalism courses that he took, Simoun understood the fundamentals of journalistic storytelling in the context of sports writing.

Passionate for the UP Fighting Maroons, Simoun is a fan of the NBA, PBA, UAAP, and FIBA.
His childhood team was the Chicago Bulls and Simoun was a longtime supporter of the Houston Rockets because his friends would say he looked like Yao Ming.

Simoun loves the systematic, tactical movement of the ball and the players, the stories behind each individual competing on the hardcourt and most of all, how basketball is a sport for life and all its struggles and lessons.

A father of two, Simoun spends his free time with his kids.

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Edited by Simoun Victor Redoblado