After losing the road game against the Lynx on Sunday, Paige Bueckers headed to Blackstone Park in the Minneapolis suburbs, a place close to her heart and deeply tied to her basketball journey. She shared her thoughts on this visit as she surprised the local kids with a warm gesture.
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Growing up, Bueckers honed her basketball skills on a crude, patchy court with vague markings. Now the Dallas Wings’ leading scorer has made sure that young players who want to hone their basketball skills have a court that matches their ambitions and dreams, as she partnered with Gatorade to donate $ 45,000 to unveil a refurbished version of her own childhood basketball court.
The video shared by WCCO, CBS News Minnesota’s Ren Clayton, shows the court in its new purple look, which includes Bueckers’ signature and a Gatorade logo among several vibrant designs. The footage also shows the Dallas Wings star surprising the kids who had gathered for the opening as they had no idea she was coming.
Paige Bueckers and Gatorade have been collaborators since 2021. A little over a week ago, the brand launched a Shirley Temple-flavored drink and labeled it “Paige’s Favorite Flavor.” Meanwhile, for Bueckers, the visit holds deeper meaning as she revisits her ties to this special place.
“That’s where I always went when life was life-ing. This stretch has been tough. Losing is tough. People got personal stuff going on, and at the end of the day life is bigger than basketball. So to go kind of heal my inner child, go back home where I fell in love with the game,” Bueckers told reporters after Sunday’s loss.
“Brings me back to my childhood of just being so happy to be at a basketball court. Looking up to my role models on the Minnesota Lynx,” she told CBS on Monday.
Paige Bueckers has shown up for the community that gave her so much love time after time. In March 2025, she donated $50,000 to Good Sports’ Restore Play LA initiative, which brought athletic apparel and equipment grants to Southern California youth sports communities heavily affected by regional wildfires.
Bueckers has also collaborated with Good Sports in Connecticut, where she maintains an equipment grant program ensuring young athletes have access to proper footwear and safety gear.
Then this year, before restoring the court at St. Louis Park, she pledged her entire $50,000 prize after winning the Unrivaled” free throw challenge in January 2026 as a gift to the Hopkins Education Foundation.
“For me to come back, invest in the community, invest in the city that made me who I am, it’s really a dream come true.”
However, things have lately been less rewarding on the court for Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings as the race for a playoff spot heats up. That loss against the Minnesota Lynx was thier fifth loss in their last six games.
Bueckers and Co. will hope to bounce back against the Tempo on August 13.