With a superstar like Paige Bueckers on the roster, the Dallas Wings have seen a surge in interest.
But as more people pay attention to the team, the Wings have not delivered on the court. Dallas entered the All-Star break with a 6–17 record and a roster still plagued by injuries and turnover. While Bueckers, a starter in Saturday’s All-Star game and the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, has played well, her performance has not overcome the team’s issues through the first half of the season.
The Wings got the No. 1 pick for a reason, finishing 9-31 last season and soon after starting a rebuild. Dallas hired new GM Curt Miller, who brought on Chris Koclanes as the team’s new coach. Leaders in the organization felt the team was building momentum, but the 2025 season probably isn’t going how they envisioned.
Related:The Bueckers Show is worth watching, but Wings are a long way from becoming Dallas’ team
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Dallas’ output through the first half of the season has been marked by undefined roles and inconsistent play from the team’s stars. As a result, players and Wings leadership have had to contend with increasingly negative sentiment surrounding the franchise.
“I think first and foremost I’d rather have people caring in a negative way than not caring at all,” Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb told The Dallas Morning News this week.
While increased interest is positive for the organization, Bibb acknowledged that the Wings have to produce.
“No one here is happy with our record,” Bibb said. “ Everyone here is trying everyday to give ourselves the best opportunity to win basketball games.”
Heavy load for the No. 1 pick
Bueckers has played winning basketball despite the Wings’ record.
The league’s Rookie of the Month for June is averaging a team-high 18.4 points, 5.5 assists and 1.7 steals. She plays the most minutes on the team, and hasn’t had consistent help from teammates.
In Sunday’s 102-83 loss to the Indiana Fever, Bueckers scored a game-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Meanwhile star guard Arike Ogunbowale went 0-for-10 from the floor in her first game back from a left thumb injury.
Ogunbowale, who went 3-for-12 from the floor in the Wings’ last game before the break, is averaging a career low points per game (15.7) and field goal percentage (34.6).
Related:As Arike Ogunbowale battles shooting slump, Wings maintain strong belief in veteran star
The Wings returned Ogunbowale from last year’s team and signed four new additions — DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith, Myisha Hines-Allen and Tyasha Harris — in the offseason with the hope they would help fix issues from 2024.
Harris is out for the season with a left knee injury and the Wings traded Smith to the Aces. Hines-Allen grabbed seven rebounds and made three assists in the loss to the Aces, but she scored no points and was 0-for-5 from the field.
Carrington, who has missed the team’s last nine games with a rib injury, began the season as a starter, but was demoted to the bench.
“It was hard for me [given] that the whole point of me coming to Dallas was to expand my role,” Carrington told reporters this week.
Li Yueru, whom the Wings acquired via a trade with the Seattle Storm on June 14, has been productive for Dallas, averaging 8.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Play from the two other bigs — Luisa Geiselsöder (6.6 points, 4.9 rebounds) and Teaira McCowan (5.4 points, 4.4 rebounds) — has been up and down.
Roster instability
Geiselsöder and McCowan missed several games last month due to overseas commitments.
Their absences, along with injuries, contributed to personnel issues. Ogunbowale just returned from a left thumb injury. Carrington is still out with a rib injury. Harris is out for the season and forward Maddy Siegrist has been nursing a right knee injury.
Bueckers missed time earlier in the season due to concussion protocol and illness.
After Geiselsöder and McCowan returned, the Wings released two players — Kaila Charles and Haley Jones — from hardship contracts and traded Smith to the Aces. Yueru joined the Wings a month into the season.
Ahead of the team’s July 3 game against the Phoenix Mercury, the Wings signed forward Liatu King to a rest-of-season contract. Dallas’ numbers were so low that they needed to sign a 12th player before that game to avoid forfeit.
“We’ve played 15 of our 21 games with 10 players or less. You do the math … That’s over 70% of our games,” Wings GM Curt Miller told reporters at a recent practice. “We’re approaching 50% of the games with nine or less.”
King has since been released and Jones returned on a rest-of-season contract. The team, which still qualifies for a roster hardship, signed guard Grace Berger to a seven-day contract on Wednesday.
Many players have played at various positions as a result of the instability.
Looking ahead
After the All-Star break, the Wings hope to rest, recover and turn things around.
Bueckers said after Wednesday’s loss that the break will be “a complete mental reset.”
“Reflecting on the first half of the season. How we can be better individually, how we can be better as a team,” she said.
Koclanes and several players on the team have expressed that they haven’t given up on the season.
“As crappy as it can feel in these moments … there’s a bigger picture here and if we continue to build good habits, positive habits, and stay together we’ll get this thing to where we want to get it,” Koclanes said.
Dallas plays the Seattle Storm, a team that has beaten the Wings twice this season, in their first game back from the break. The Wings hope they start the third quarter of their season in the win column.
“It doesn’t get easy. Seattle — All-Stars all over the place,” Koclanes said. “I just want us to come out with urgency. That’s our word for the second half: urgency.”
Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.