In the Dallas Wings’ 22nd game of 2025, Arike Ogunbowale was held to two points on 0-for-10 shooting from the floor. It was the exact halfway point of the season; the Wings lost at the Indiana Fever, 102-83, and fell to 6-16.
Despite posting solid scoring averages of over 15 points per game in the past two seasons, Ogunbowale hasn’t been talked about as much, especially compared to when she regularly was averaging around 20 points per game. She missed the All-Star Game in 2025 and 2026, and for the first
two times in her eight-year career didn’t receive any MVP voting points.
These slights haven’t altered Paige Bueckers’ perception of her veteran teammate.
Nope. There is still a reverence for Ogunbowale and everything she meant to Dallas before Bueckers got there.
After Ogunbowale’s rough outing in the middle of the 2025 season, then-rookie Bueckers made a point to applaud her for “the way she continued to stay in the game (and didn’t) let (poor shooting) affect her effort on both ends of the floor.”
Bueckers elaborated:
Her being a leader of this team, that was huge for me to be able to see that. We’ve talked about it as individuals. Just having one-on-one conversations (about) how we want to stay unaffected through the refs, through the missed calls, through missed defensive possessions. And so I just want to give a shout-out to her, because it wasn’t her night shooting the ball, but I thought the way she stayed within the game—that’s a win in itself.
Arike Ogunbowale looked like a superstar in the 2026 playoffs
Arike still put up good numbers for most of 2025. She also sacrificed her scoring to allow Bueckers to become the No. 1 option.
On Wednesday, we were reminded of Arike’s still-active potential to be the best scorer in the WNBA on any given night. She set a new playoff record of 45 points as the Wings won Game 2 of their first-round series against the Golden State Valkyries to force a Game 3.
Paige’s belief in her all along probably had a lot to do with Ogunbowale’s ability to dig deep and deliver a vintage performance. In my mind, I immediately went back to that two-point performance and Bueckers’ words of encouragement.
Let’s be clear: Bueckers is now the No. 1 scoring option. But Ogunbowale proved that she can still put a team on her back to secure a key playoff win. Many questioned her fit with Bueckers and if it’d even be in Dallas’ best interest to bring her back for 2026 after the Wings finished 10-34 in 2025.
Well, Ogunbowale signed a two-year max deal and helped the Wings to a 17-game improvement. After her historic Game 2 vs. the Valkyries, she dropped another 30 points in Game 3, nearly leading Dallas to a berth in the semifinals.
Arike and Paige are happy to share the spotlight
After they fell short, it was Ogunbowale’s turn to cheer up Bueckers, who was emotional at the postgame press conference.
So many great tandems in basketball feature a backcourt player and a frontcourt player. Certainly Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark of the Fever are a notable exception. So too are backcourt mates Bueckers and Ogunbowale. Game 3 vs. the Valkyries solidified that. They nearly took down the No. 2 seed with Ogunbowale scoring 30 points and Bueckers adding 17 points.
Ogunbowale is the one who had to sacrifice the most the past two seasons. In these playoffs, though, it was Bueckers deferring to Ogunbowale. There’s no ego involved for either of them. Their words after Game 3 make that clear.
Ogunbowale offered:
I knew we were on the right trajectory when we got Paige, I mean, generational player. She willed us throughout the whole season. Should be First Team (All-)WNBA. If she’s not, I feel like that s—’s rigged, because she’s done everything for this team.
Then, Paige, tears dried, took a stab at explaining the bond between her and Arike:
Arike has just meant the world to me. Just in terms of her being able to sacrifice. Accept me with open arms and take me under her wing. Dallas has been her city for (years). She’s held it down through the ups and downs, the highs and lows of Dallas basketball. She’s just been consistent and a great leader for us. And like I’ve talked about before, just her being able to sacrifice who she is as a basketball player to help me find who I am and be comfortable. We feed off of each other. This is somebody I ride for on and off the court.
I appreciate Arike, I love Arike. She means the world to me. And obviously you saw in the playoffs, but we wouldn’t be where we are without her. And so I’m just forever indebted to her and forever grateful for our relationship.
A first-round exit doesn’t do the 2026 Wings justice
It’s really tough for the Wings to have to stomach not advancing.
All eight playoff teams should feel like they deserve to be in the semis because all of them finished with great records. The top eight teams in the W this year were just so much better than the bottom seven. The Wings’ regular-season winning percentage (.614) actually was the best since the franchise relocated to Dallas, better than their 2023 mark in a year they made the semis.
Most probably felt they had the lowest odds of advancing past the first round, but, remember, that was with injuries to Azzi Fudd and Alanna Smith. And being the least respected of the playoff teams doesn’t make losing any easier, especially when their record was as good as it was.
Arike has one more year on her contract, so, barring a trade, we’ll see if she, Bueckers, Fudd and Jessica Shepard can make it back to this stage and rewrite the script.
One thing we know for sure is that Arike is going to be a lot more feared next year. The rest of the W isn’t going to forget what she did in this year’s playoffs.
