The Dallas Wings have struggled to find their footing in the WNBA. Since the franchise moved to Dallas in 2016, they’d had just one winning season.
Now they’ve had two.
The 2026 campaign ended with the Wings at 27 wins and the franchise’s fourth-best record. The other above .600 seasons occurred way back when they were known as the Detroit Shock.
The Wings’ season still ended with a dud. They lost to the Golden State Valkyries in the opening round of the postseason. However, Golden State is still playing
in the WNBA Finals, which makes that an easier pill to swallow. All things considered, the Wings have to be happy with the progress they made.
What went right in Dallas?
Paige Bueckers continues to ascend, and that’s lifting the Wings up.
She averaged 20.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists, all up from her rookie campaign. She made her second All-Star team and was sixth in MVP voting. Once the All-WNBA Teams are revealed, she will most certainly be on it.
Bueckers was superb with her backcourt pairings.
Rookie Azzi Fudd had a strong showing this year. The chemistry they built at UConn certainly translated to the pros. Fudd averaged 13.1 points per game and shot 39.7 percent from 3-point range. She also made the All-Rookie team.
Some were surprised Arike Ogunbowale signed a two-year deal with the Wings last offseason. Was she okay with taking a backseat to Bueckers and being less on-ball? It turns out that wasn’t an issue for her. Ogunbowale remains a bucket getter with an otherworldly ceiling. She averaged 15.3 points per game, but on any given night she can be the best player on the Earth.
This was on full display in the playoffs when she scored 45 points in a Game 2 win over the Valkyries in the first round, forcing the winner-take-all Game 3, when she dropped another 30 points in the eventual loss.
The season didn’t end in a title, but with this trio, the best should be yet to come for the Wings.
What went wrong in Dallas?
Injuries dashed the Wings’ hopes of maximizing their potential.
Fudd hurt her knee and underwent an arthroscopic procedure, ending her year after 30 games. Had she been healthy, perhaps Dallas would have shocked the world, beaten the Valkyries and gone on a historic postseason run.
The Wings also struggled with pace and clutch-time execution. Dallas was one of the slower teams in the WNBA, with a pace of 95.70, the third-slowest in the league. In clutch games, the Wings were 14-10. That’s not a bad record, but subpar for a playoff team.
There was also the exuberance of their first-year coach Jose Fernandez. He had some tiffs with the media and didn’t hesitate to aggressively call out or criticize players. It’s hard to quantify how much, if at all, this affected their ability to win.
What’s next for Dallas?
Bueckers, Ogunbowale and Fudd are an elite backcourt trio. Forward Jessica Shepard had her best year yet as a pro.
If they can add another big or a wing this offseason, they’ll be in prime position not just to advance in the playoffs, but to compete for a title.
Nothing is broken in Dallas, so don’t try to fix a problem that’s not there. All that’s needed are a few tweaks for optimization.
