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August 5, 2021

Following NCAA rule change, UConn hoops star Paige Bueckers signs with sports agency

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | UCONN UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers during the 2020-2021 season.

University of Connecticut women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers has signed with Wasserman Media Group, a sports and talent agency, in one of the highest-profile deals yet of the recently launched “name, image and likeness” era in college sports.

Los Angeles-based Wasserman announced its partnership with the standout point guard and USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year through social media late Wednesday. Bueckers and Stanford University forward Cameron Brink are the firm’s first name, image and likeness clients in basketball, company officials said.

As one of the most visible athletes in American college sports, Bueckers had been expected to seek professional representation since the NCAA altered its longstanding and increasingly controversial position that student players should not be compensated for their performance beyond scholarship opportunities. The organization’s new policy, announced last month, permits student athletes to make money through use of their name, image and likeness in advertisements, endorsements and other types of commercial promotions.

Industry analysts have calculated that an athlete of Bueckers’s stature — with about 901,000 followers on Instagram and 336,000 followers on short-form video-sharing site TikTok — could earn between $300,000 and $1 million annually through paid name, image and likeness arrangements.

Bueckers, a Minnesota native, made her collegiate debut for UConn in 2020. She was named the Naismith Player of the Year and the AP Player of the Year following her freshman season.

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