Minnesota
Paige Bueckers’ pro debut in Minnesota was a reflection of her roots and inspiration
MINNEAPOLIS — Ten miles southwest of where Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers received a roaring ovation Wednesday night at the Target Center, she first learned how to shoot a basketball. She was just another anonymous ponytailed kid who spent her winters in the gymnasium. It’s a part of the culture here, she says now with the gift of hindsight, and a credit to biting Minnesota snowstorms — basketball blessings in the form of subzero temps and bone-chilling winds.
Bueckers grew up playing in gyms across the state, then the region, then the country, her name slowly gaining more recognition and acclaim with every passing season. She did so in the shadows of a basketball dynasty being born with the Minnesota Lynx on the shoulders (and passes) of another Minnesota kid — Lindsay Whalen, a point guard who grew up in an era without the WNBA. Whalen, who hailed from Hutchinson, stayed home and led the Gophers to their first Final Four appearance in 2004 before being drafted by the Connecticut Sun as the No. 4 pick. When Whalen came back to Minnesota in 2010, Bueckers was 10 years old, an avid basketball fan eager for the success Whalen and the Lynx were about to achieve.
From 2011 to 2017, the Minnesota Lynx won four WNBA titles. The core players from that run — Whalen, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles — now have their numbers retired, hanging from the Target Center rafters. Bueckers vividly remembers those days of regularly attending games. She can recount the rivalry with the Los Angeles Sparks, the 2017 WNBA Finals series played at the Barn (Minnesota’s home gym) while the Target Center underwent renovations, and the way Cheryl Reeve coached.
“The dynasty Cheryl created is something to admire and aspire to be,” she said.
We’ve got Paige… you’ve got problems 🙂 pic.twitter.com/AEHUAwCjHj
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) May 20, 2025
Wednesday night, five years after leaving for UConn — where Bueckers became an international basketball star; name, image and likeness darling; and finally, last month, a national champion — she was back in her home state. But this time, she was there as a visitor. Over the last few years, she’s rarely made it back, typically only in August to see family and friends, soak up the last parts of summer and visit the Minnesota State Fair.
In her first appearance in Target Center as a WNBA player, she notched her first professional double-double — 12 points and 10 assists. Even with the small heroics from the No. 1 draft pick, it wasn’t enough to tip the scales for the Wings, who dropped to 0-3 on the season with the 85-81 loss.
Before this homecoming, Bueckers was peppered with questions about her return. What would it be like? How would she feel? What local haunts would she visit?
She had prepared for it like any other game, she said — a veteran-like answer to an expected question. When Wednesday came, she really tried to approach it as she would if it were in any other venue. But this one, she acknowledges, hit differently. When she took the floor, it wasn’t just any other opponent; it was the Lynx. It wasn’t just any other coach; it was Reeve (with Whalen and Brunson as assistants beside her). And it wasn’t just any other gym; it was the Target Center.
For years, she has talked about inspiring the next generation of players. But here, those words about seeing herself in the stands were different. They weren’t theoretical.
“To see all the little girls and people in the stands and realize that was you just about 10, 15 years ago,” Bueckers said. “You never take it for granted how blessed we are to be able to play in this league and to play at this level.”
In high school, Bueckers played in the Target Center for the 2018 state title with her Hopkins team. She scored 37 points, but the rest of her team scored just 26 as it lost to Eastview. After the game, Eastview coach Molly Kasper said: “She is going to probably be in the WNBA one day.”
There is nothing like friends and family 🧡
Paige Bueckers is just a kid from Minnesota getting showered with love after playing in the place she grew up for the first time in her WNBA career pic.twitter.com/qKx0t5aKGY
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 22, 2025
The breadcrumbs Bueckers left in the Target Center along the way provided even more proof.
Four years later, Bueckers was back at the Target Center with UConn as a sophomore point guard in her second consecutive Final Four appearance. She led the Huskies in scoring (14) and rebounds (six), but it wasn’t enough to overcome South Carolina.
Now, three years later, she was back as a WNBA rookie. So, no, Wednesday night was not just like any other night. It couldn’t have been.
She understands there are players not much older than she who grew up without a professional league to which they could aspire. She knows there are plenty of women who put in the time she did without knowing whether the WNBA would exist in which to play.
Bueckers had a dynastic franchise in her backyard, growing up at a time in Minnesota when professional athletic excellence was synonymous only with women’s professional sports. From 2011 to 2018, the Twins and Timberwolves each made the postseason only once, the Vikings made the playoffs three times and once out of the wild-card game. The Wild — the most successful major professional franchise at the time not named Lynx — got to the NHL conference quarterfinals once.
Meanwhile, the Lynx were on a historic run that set a standard for WNBA teams for years to come. And Bueckers was there to witness it all.
“They were everything I aspired to be,” Bueckers said of that dynasty. “It gave me something to work for and admire. To be able to see what you want to be is very important. Growing up, that was a huge part of the reason why I wanted to be in this league.”
Today, Bueckers is here certainly because of her own making, but also because of the people and players — many of whom wore Lynx uniforms — who showed her how it could be done. In the stands Wednesday night, hundreds could tell their own Bueckers story about how they know her or how she inspired them. In her own way, Bueckers could turn that back to them. She couldn’t point out all of her family members, Hopkins and AAU teammates and friends in the arena, but she was grateful to have them there for a night that, she acknowledged, was different from all the others.
“To have them here, it means everything to me,” she said. “Because they were a huge part of my story in getting here.”
Among that group, she includes her Wednesday night opponent: the Minnesota Lynx.
(Photo: Ellen Schmidt / Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Temperatures dropped into the negative Saturday, with the coldest temperatures in the morning.
How cold it got in Minnesota Saturday
By the numbers:
Here is how cold the temperatures got in Minnesota:
- Hinckley: -20 degrees
- Bemidji: -20 degrees
- Ely: -18 degrees
- Brainerd: -18 degrees
- Detroit Lakes: -18 degrees
- Hibbing: -17 degrees
- International Falls: -17 degrees
- Duluth: -16 degrees
- Alexandria: -12 degrees
- St. Cloud: -12 degrees
- Cambridge: -11 degrees
- Grand Marais: -10 degrees
- Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport: -6 degrees
- Red Wing: -6 degrees
- Morris: -6 degrees
- Hutchinson: -5 degrees
- Rochester: -5 degrees
- Mankato: -3 degrees
- Windom: 0 degrees
- Marshall: 0 degrees
Here are the lowest wind chills across Minnesota from Saturday:
- Bemidji: -37 degrees
- Ely: -35 degrees
- Duluth: -34 degrees
- Brainerd: -32 degrees
- Detroit Lakes: -32 degrees
- Hibbing: -31 degrees
- Alexandria: -29 degrees
- Hinckley: -27 degrees
- Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport: -24 degrees
- St. Cloud: -24 degrees
- Willmar: -22 degrees
- Cambridge-21 degrees
- Grand Marais: -21 degrees
- Hutchinson: -21 deegres
- Morris: -20 degrees
- Faribault: -18 degrees
- Mankato: -18 degrees
- Marshall: -17 degrees
- Red Wing: -16 degrees
- Owatonna: -16 degrees
- Windom-12 degrees
Cold continues Sunday
What’s next:
The Twin Cities are under a cold weather advisory that is expected to last through Sunday morning, so residents should prepare for frigid conditions if they have plans to be outdoors.
Sunday will be slightly less frigid with temperatures climbing above zero. However, it will still feel like 10 below zero in the afternoon.
Milder and warmer temperatures are expected to return for the work week.
Minnesota
Minnesota Wild acquires NHL star Quinn Hughes from Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade
The Minnesota Wild made an all-in move for one of the NHL’s best players in his prime, acquiring defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade — their boldest action yet toward ending a decade-long skid of playoff series defeats.
The teams announced the seismic move on Friday night, after the 2024 Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman had been the most talked-about trade candidate over the past couple of weeks. Minnesota sent center Marco Rossi, defenseman Zeev Buium, winger Liam Ohgren and a first-round pick in the 2026 draft to suddenly rebuilding Vancouver to complete the deal.
The trade was the second major swap of the day, after two-time Stanley Cup Final runner-up Edmonton finally made a move for a goaltender, acquiring Tristan Jarry from Pittsburgh.
Rossi (24), Ohgren (21) and Buium (20) fit the mold of the young talent the Canucks were speculated to be targeting if they were going to trade Hughes. Rossi (2020), Ohgren (2022) and Buium (2024) were all recent first-round draft picks by the Wild.
“Quinn played hard, led by example and did a lot of very good things for the Canucks,” Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin said. “Trading away a player of this caliber is never an easy decision to make, but it was one we had to do to make our team better. We are so excited to add a solid centre in Marco, a good young blueliner in Zeev and a versatile forward in Liam. This year’s draft is a strong one, so acquiring a first-round pick was also a big part of this deal.”
Hughes had no trade-blocking protection in his current deal that pays him an average of $7.85 million annually. Hughes, who is 26 and widely considered the best at player on the blue line behind only Colorado’s Cale Makar, is signed through the 2026-27 season before he can become an unrestricted free agent.
The Wild will not be allowed to extend Hughes until July 1, and it’s unclear if he would consider signing a new contract with them. There has been plenty of buzz around the league that Quinn wants to play with his brothers, Jack and Luke, with the New Jersey Devils.
They could potentially be teammates on the U.S. Olympic team, either in February in Milan or in 2030. Wild general manager Bill Guerin runs USA Hockey’s management team.
The long-term outlook for Hughes can wait until next summer, though. The Wild are focused on challenging the two top teams ahead of them in the loaded Central Division, rivals that happen to also have the top two records in the NHL: Colorado and Dallas.
The season-long celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary would be a lot more meaningful if the Wild can finally advance in the playoffs, having lost nine straight series after a first-round victory over St. Louis in 2015. The Wild have passed the second round just once in their entire existence, when they were swept in the Western Conference finals by Anaheim in 2003.
Hughes is a significant upgrade to Minnesota’s blue line, anchored by captain and 16-year veteran Jared Spurgeon, smooth-skating 14-year veteran Jonas Brodin and young stalwart Brock Faber. The emergence of rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt this season has given the Wild a reliable tandem with Filip Gustavsson in the net, with star winger Kirill Kaprizov leading the attack after recently signing the richest contract in hockey history to stay in the “State of Hockey” through 2034.
After a rough start, the Wild are 14-3-2 since Nov. 1. They host Ottawa on Saturday and Boston on Sunday night, with the latter game likely the more realistic one for Hughes to debut.
Hughes had two goals, 21 assists and 32 blocked shots in 23 games this season with the last-in-the-NHL Canucks. When he won the Norris Trophy two seasons ago, Hughes had 17 goals and 75 assists, both single-season franchise records for defensemen and the most among all blue liners in the league. Drafted seventh overall in 2018 out of Michigan, the native of Orlando, Florida, spent time growing up in the Boston and Toronto areas while his father, a hockey coach, moved around.
This was Hughes’ third season as Vancouver’s captain, and his abrupt exit paves the way for more change 11 months since the trade of J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers and in the aftermath of coach Rick Tocchet’s departure.
“With the circumstances surrounding J.T. and now Quinn, we are fortunate to acquire these very good young players from Minnesota,” Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said. “They will be a key part of the rebuild that we are currently in, giving us a bright future moving forward. The hockey club will continue to build with talented young players using that as a blueprint to become a contender sooner rather than later.”
KSTP/SurveyUSA poll results: Fraud in Minnesota
The first results of KSTP’s exclusive SurveyUSA poll on fraud in Minnesota have been released.
Our survey asked: Do you think fraud in state programs is the biggest problem in Minnesota?
From a group of 578 registered voters, 79% say it’s either the biggest problem or a major problem.
Another question asked was: Has Gov. Tim Walz done enough to stop fraud in Minnesota?
Fourteen percent say that he’s done enough, while 69% say he needs to do more.
The survey also asked if the Legislature has done enough — 11% say yes, and 74% say they need to do more.
Click here for KSTP’s full coverage on fraud.
You can view the results of the fraud-related KSTP/SurveyUSA results below:
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