You know expectations are high when you start throwing around the name Kevin Durant.
And while her 3-point efficiency has still yet to live up to that standard over an extended period, Awak Kuier does indeed possess some of the same tools as the NBA’s fifth all-time leading scorer. It’s what made her such an exciting prospect leading up to the 2021 WNBA Draft.
Things didn’t pan out for her initially in the W. But in 2026, she’s shown signs of becoming a key contributor for the team that drafted her No.
2 overall in the Dallas Wings.
She certainly has the height (6-foot-6) and length to be compared to Durant, and back in 2021 when she was 19 years old and preparing for the draft, she was being hailed as a potential do-it-all forward like Durant, whom she modeled her game after. But as a rookie, she averaged just 8.9 minutes and 2.4 points. She saw similar production in 2022 and 2023 before choosing to take a break from the WNBA to rest her body from the year-round play she had been participating in since she was a teenager.
It wasn’t the start Wings fans had hoped for from such a hyped No. 2 pick, though she did last longer in the league than 2021’s No. 1 pick, Charli Collier, who also was selected by the Wings.
The fact that Kuier at least hung around on the roster through 2023 was perhaps a sign that she could still make it work one day.
Fast forward to the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women season. Kuier averaged 12.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks for Galatasaray Çağdaş Faktoring during the team’s runner-up campaign in the most competitive league in Europe. She was even a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
She then made the Wings’ 2026 roster and after averaging 9.6 minutes and three points over the first five games, averaged 20.7 minutes and 12.7 points over the next three before sustaining a wrist injury that has kept her out of the last two contests. Over the key three-game stretch, she added 4.7 boards and 1.7 blocks while shooting 11-for-14 (78.6 percent) from the field and 6-for-8 (75 percent) from 3.
Dallas head coach Jose Fernandez was taking note, expressing that the team would miss her length on both sides of the ball.
Since Kueir last suited up for the Wings in 2023, the one constant star has been Arike Ogunbowale. The team also still has Maddy Siegrist, who was then a rookie and is now a key contributor, while Odyssey Sims, also a member of the 2023 squad, has rejoined the team after playing elsewhere in 2025 and for part of 2024.
Everything else is different.
At the top, you’ve now got Paige Bueckers—the star they’re building around. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. Dallas had the No. 1 pick in 2026 as well, selecting Bueckers’ UConn teammate Azzi Fudd. They also brought in free agent Jessica Shepard, who is turning in an All-Star-worthy campaign thus far as a forward due to delivering phenomenal production in rebounding and distribution, becoming honestly the team’s second-best player behind Bueckers.
Thanks to Bueckers’ excellence, Ogunbowale’s (albeit inconsistent) scoring outbursts, Fudd’s immediate impact and Shepard’s star turn, the Wings are in a tie for second place at 7-3 in the current WNBA standings.
In my season preview of the team, I analyzed past WNBA teams who had back-to-back No. 1 picks, pointing out that none of the previous four made it past the first round of the playoffs in the first year, but that three of those teams then went on to win multiple championships, while the fourth’s final outcome has yet to be scripted.
I therefore thought that Dallas could be happy with their results this year even if they only saw moderate success. But the ideal situation they were placed in when they won back-to-back draft lotteries may make them an immediate contender after all.
Meanwhile, could a leftover asset from their previous ideal situation—having picks No. 1 and 2 in 2021—be a key X factor for them?
The Wings went 14-18 in 2021 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. In 2022, they improved to 18-18 and again bowed out in the opening round. While they did advance to the semifinals in 2023, Collier was no longer with the team and Kuier wasn’t a key contributor throughout the season (though she did have 13 points, six rebounds, two steals and three blocks on 6-for-8 shooting from the field in the win that clinched the semifinal berth). It was mostly 2020 No. 2 pick Satou Sabally and 2019 No. 5 pick Ogunbowale leading the way.
Dallas then finished 11th in 2024 and tied for last in 2025.
So the rebuild that Kuier was supposed to be a central piece of never yielded the desired results. Yet, here she is with an opportunity to contribute to the current build in a meaningful way.
We always knew she had the raw talent. We’ll see if she can continue to find significant playing time and continue to put points on the board for the 2026 Wings.
