ARLINGTON — Paige Bueckers may not be used to losing like she has in her rookie season with the Dallas Wings (5–13), but she does know what it’s like to play on a team devastated by injuries.
After she returned from her own ACL injury for the 2023-24 season at UConn, Bueckers willed a hobbled Huskies team to the Final Four. The No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft who won a national championship at UConn in April has a similar task before her with the Wings, who saw just six players fully participate in practice on Wednesday ahead of their Thursday home game against the Phoenix Mercury.
“Unfortunately, I have kind of been through this in terms of being shorthanded and having not the full roster at UConn. That was kind of the theme of my career, so used to it. Next woman up” Bueckers told reporters after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s actually kind of fun to play where the odds are stacked against you.”
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Star guard Arike Ogunbowale, who is nursing a thumb injury, and guard-forward DiJonai Carrington, who has been out with a rib injury, did not practice Wednesday. Guard Tyasha Harris is out for the season with a left knee injury. While forward Maddy Siegrist has made progress with her right knee fracture, there isn’t a timeline on when she’ll be back. Forward Myisha Hines-Allen practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday, when the Wings announced they had signed forward Liautu King to a rest-of-season contract.
Wings general manager Curt Miller said Tuesday that the team needed to sign a 12th player before Thursday’s game to avoid forfeit. Injuries and absences have been a key contributor to the Wings’ issues this season. It took the Wings, one of the youngest teams in the league, time to learn how to play together. Dallas returned just three players from last year’s roster and since the season began, the lineup has constantly evolved.
Centers Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder just returned from EuroBasket. Two players, Kaila Charles and Haley Jones, were recently released from hardship contracts. On Monday, the Wings traded forward NaLyssa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces for a 2027 first-round draft pick. Center Li Yueru joined the Wings about a month into the season.
“It’s kind of like pick up in a sense to where you’re just picking people up and tying your shoes and going out there and playing, so it’s been fun in that aspect,” Buecker said on the roster shuffling.
Through it all, Bueckers has been dealing with her own injury issues while also playing the most minutes on the team. She missed four games earlier this season due to concussion protocol and later illness. After scoring a team-high 27 points in a loss to the Indiana Fever last Friday at American Airlines Center, Bueckers did not play in the Wings’ win over the Washington Mystics the following day.
But it was merely a precautionary measure, as she had been experiencing some soreness in her right knee. Bueckers said Wednesday that she has struggled with patellar tendinitis since high school and that “there’s no day where it probably doesn’t hurt.”
“But to be on the second night of a back to back or a night I just played 38 minutes, it usually never feels great the day after the game,” Bueckers said on missing last Saturday’s contest. “We usually either have an off day or a light practice day to where I can recover … We thought it was just the smart thing to do to rest and recover.”
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