Editor’s note: A previous version of this article featured incorrect statements about Paige Bueckers’s Instagram following. Sports Illustrated regrets the error.
Paige Bueckers can add one more accolade to her extensive resumé.
On Tuesday, Front Office Sports announced that the guard became the first women’s basketball player to ever reach one million Instagram followers. While Sports Illustrated cannot verify that claim, as several WNBA stars such as Skylar Diggins-Smith and Te’a Cooper currently have seven-figure followings, the 20-year-old now has more followers than WNBA stars such as Candace Parker (992K), Sue Bird (646K) and Diana Taurasi (235K).
On Bueckers’s Instagram, the 2021 Best Women College Athlete ESPY winner documents her life and posts content that ranges from her on the court to her life outside of basketball.
Bueckers is coming off a March Madness run where her UConn Huskies made it all the way to the women’s championship before falling to Dawn Staley’s South Carolina, 64–49. During the season, Bueckers battled through a left knee injury that sidelined her for nearly three months. She appeared in 17 games and averaged 14.6 points per game while totaling 68 rebounds and 67 assists during the season.
