UConn star Paige Bueckers gets nominated for Best Comeback Athlete ESPY award for coming back from a knee injury: Reports
Paige Bueckers has received a nomination for a 2024 ESPY. The UConn point guard was on Wednesday nominated for the Best Comeback Athlete of the Year in the annual award following her superb performance in the 2023-24 college basketball season.
Bueckers joins three other athletes across the United States to receive a nomination for the award. Gymnast Simone Biles, Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco and New Orleans Pelicans big man Zion Williamson are the others in contention for the award.
The winners, which will be selected through fan voting, will be unveiled during a ceremony on July 11. The event is set to be hosted by tennis legend Serena Williams and will broadcast live from Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
A well-deserved nomination for Paige Bueckers
Considering what has occurred to her in the last two years, Paige Bueckers' nomination for the ESPY Comeback Athlete of the Year is well deserved. She’s a strong contender to be the winner of the award.
Bueckers suffered an ACL injury to her left knee in August 2022 during a pickup game and missed the 2022-23 season. She took a medical redshirt and decided to forego the 2023 WNBA draft. The Huskies had one of the worst seasons in recent history in her absence.
Her return in the 2023-24 season was a brilliant one for UConn. She played all 39 games, averaging 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists. She was named Big East Player of the Year and was voted a Consensus All-American, receiving both honors for the second time.
Paige Buecker previously won an ESPY award
Paige Bueckers is no stranger to an ESPY award. She was named the Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports in the 2021 edition of the award after a brilliant freshman season.
In her acceptance speech, she took the opportunity to celebrate Black women in basketball.
“With the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a Black-led sport and celebrated here, I want to shed a light on Black women,” Bueckers said. “They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve. They’ve given so much to the sport, the community and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable.”
For the 2024 Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports, former Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark, LSU gymnast Haleigh Bryant, Wisconsin volleyball star Sarah Franklin and Northwestern lacrosse player Izzy Scane are all in contention.