UConn women’s basketball phenom Paige Bueckers joined Twitter in June 2016 for seemingly one reason: to talk Cleveland Cavaliers basketball. She certainly made the most of that.
Kyrie Irving is still Bueckers’ favorite player according to her profile on Team USA’s Olympic page. Judging by her tweets, this has been the case for a while.
People so sleep on Kyrie… what a shame ♀️
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) April 18, 2017
And as anyone who was defending Irving’s legacy in the mid-2010s, you had to call into question the credentials of his contemporaries.
And what Cavs fan in 2017 didn’t get out over their skis every now and then?
I’ve always liked Russell it’s just that Kyrie the best point guard in the league point blank period
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) February 12, 2017
Irving may have been Bueckers’s gateway to the Cavs, but she was a fan nonetheless. She had fun with the Christmas win over the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
Richard Jefferson is not playing Bodied KD and Klay
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) December 25, 2016
What sets Kyrie apart is the confidence and the fact that he wants the ball and isn’t scared to make a mistake… He’s a dawg ‼️
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) December 25, 2016
She was also there to celebrate the Cavs’ second-half comeback over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of the first round in 2017 led by LeBron James.
Lebron brought his team back from a 26 point deficit to win, had a triple double, 40 ball, 52% FG, & 50% threes… playing 45/48 min…
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) April 21, 2017
And the dismantling of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals
If you ask Kevin Love or Kyrie Irving what a miss is, they wouldn’t know ♀️
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) May 22, 2017
The Finals didn’t go as planned that year. But she had the utmost confidence in the Cavs even if Golden State had Kevin Durant this time around.
And she went through the natural progression all Cavs fans did during that series.
Smh I see some new & never been seen before warriors fans on my timeline
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) June 13, 2017
Naturally, Bueckers didn’t take the news that Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland very well.
And she didn’t seem thrilled when the trade to Boston was first announced.
She rebounded by jumping on the Dwyane Wade bandwagon.
She was understandably shocked by the Koby Altman’s deals at the 2018 deadline that year that sent out six players and brought in four others. Unfortunately, she didn’t share her complete thoughts on how she thought Rodney Hood would fit next to James.
The cavaliers are my team… but wow
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) February 8, 2018
Bueckers never lost faith in James during the playoff run despite the lack of help he had.
< Angry Playoff Lebron
— Paige Bueckers (@paigebueckers1) April 19, 2018
Bueckers seemed to have fallen off the bandwagon after James left for the Los Angeles Lakers. She hasn’t tweeted about the Cavs since then so we don’t have her takes on the Collin Sexton wars or whether the two-big lineup can work in the playoffs.
Bueckers will be coming to Cleveland next weekend for the Final Four. She is looking to win her first NCAA championship and will be taking on Kaitlyn Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday night.