The Dallas Wings fell to the Seattle Storm on Tuesday by a score of 83-77. It was their third consecutive loss and the seventh of their first eight games. For the second straight contest, Dallas played without rookie phenom Paige Bueckers, who is in the league’s concussion protocol after sustaining a head injury last Thursday in Chicago.
There isn’t much to feel good about right now. The boundless optimism and excitement that permeated the organization in the season’s lead-up have all but dissipated as the Wings struggle to find their identity. First-year head coach Chris Koclanes has been under fire, with fans criticizing his lineups, rotations, schemes, and readiness for his position. Several of the big offseason additions have yet to find their footing in Dallas.
As of today, the Wings are dead last in the WNBA standings, percentage points behind the lowly Connecticut Sun. Their net rating is 10th out of 13th, and their defensive rating is 11th. And though their offense appears solid (fifth in the league), much of that is buoyed by their 109-point explosion against the historically inept Sun. This is a bad basketball team on both sides of the ball.
New general manager Curt Miller had a tall task on his hands after Satou Sabally’s trade demand last offseason, but the pieces he got back have failed to make up for the massive hole left behind. All of Miller’s moves signaled a desire to “re-tool” around Bueckers instead of a full-blown rebuild; unfortunately, this team looks every bit as bad as last year’s nine-win, lottery-winning group. Though some of that is due to injury and adjustment, the issues are deeper than that.
Part of the offseason excitement about the Wings’ future was rooted in the expected move to Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas for 2026 and the construction of a state-of-the-art practice facility next door. However, those plans were recently thrown into turmoil; renovations have pushed the move to the new arena back to at least 2027. And though the practice facility was initially green-lit, the arena delay caused its planned location to change, prompting concern and revaluation from city council members. Despite all the promises made over the last few years, the Wings may be stuck in Arlington playing and practicing at a college campus next year.
Suddenly, the Wings’ present and future outlook looks a lot murkier. It’s not time for panic yet, but things aren’t great right now. How did things go south so quickly? Is any of this season salvageable? And where does Dallas go from here?
“Everyone is a leader”
Koclanes, when asked pre-season about Bueckers’ leadership ability, responded with the bold declaration that “everyone [on the Wings] is a leader.” This was an immediate red flag to me. Because if everyone is a leader, no one is a leader. Every team, especially in basketball, needs a hierarchy. A chain of command. Voices that can speak louder than the rest. If you don’t have that, it’s chaos. If everyone is empowered to lead and everyone is equal, who sets the tone?
As I feared, this mentality has translated to the court. Koclanes has also stated numerous times that he wants everyone on the team “hunting shots” and “being aggressive.” Of course, you want all your players to be confident. You don’t want anyone turning down good shots, and it’s important to empower your players to feel comfortable on the floor. But in basketball, not everyone should be looking to score. Not everyone should have an aggressive offensive mentality. And not everyone is capable of making good decisions with the ball in their hands on a consistent basis.
The Wings do not have an established hierarchy on offense. Bueckers, their best offensive player, is third on the team in usage rate at a meager 20%. DiJoani Carrington, who is not a playmaker and struggles to score efficiently at all three levels, is at 22.5%. Arike Ogunbowale is at a career-low 23.8%. Everyone else in the rotation is between the 15-19% range. Usage rate is not the only stat that reflects the state of an offense, but this represents an idea of how egalitarian the Dallas attack is.
Ogunbowale, especially, has struggled to adapt to the new offensive system. Though playing her more off-ball is a sound idea, the implementation of this transition has been poor. The Wings’ star guard is averaging just 16.1 points per game on 34.9% shooting from the field. She is not getting easier shot attempts, as she’s attempted just one corner three and 13 shots at the rim. Too often, Ogunbowale is just standing in the corner or on the wing, completely uninvolved in the action, while limited offensive players try to create on the other side of the floor. Though Bueckers has missed the last two games, the connection with her and Ogunbowale has not been properly established.
Players like Myisha Hines-Allen and NaLyssa Smith are empowered to dictate offensive possessions with ineffective results. Koclanes is obsessed with using Hines-Allen as a Domantas Sabonis-esque dribble-hand-off hub; instead of a fun wrinkle of the offense, it’s become a primary playmaking method. Hines-Allen is averaging a career-high 2.8 turnovers per game, an untenable number for a starting center who doesn’t score. Smith can be an effective post scorer, but she stops the ball, doesn’t shoot threes, and bogs things down.
The offense also doesn’t shoot nearly enough threes. Bueckers, an elite three-point shooter, has taken just 15 total threes. The team is 11th in the league at 20.8 attempts per game. It doesn’t make sense, because Dallas has plenty of capable shooters. Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Ty Harris, Maddy Siegrist, Hines-Allen, even Carrington and Smith should be firing away. To me, the problem here is that Koclanes has created a system where everyone wants to create off the bounce. There isn’t a prioritization placed on generating three-point looks. Instead, players are trying to create “better shots” and taking worse shots in the process.
When Bueckers returns, they need to figure this out. The offense should run through her, and the coaching staff must improve the synergy between Bueckers and Ogunbowale. Beyond that, there needs to be limits placed on the creation responsibilities of other players and an emphasis on creating three-point field goals and rim attempts.
Defense wins championships
In my season preview, I highlighted the Wings’ historically awful defense in 2024 and why there was little reason to believe it could meaningfully improve this year. So far, those concerns have proved prescient. Though Dallas hasn’t been as disastrous as last year, the defense is still a mess.
Carrington, the reigning Most Improved Player of the Year and first team All-Defensive guard, was the prize of the Wings’ offseason. She was expected to be a huge boost on the defensive end and help shore up some of the massive issues Dallas had containing the perimeter. So far in 2025, Dallas has a 112.1 defensive rating with her on the court and 92.3 with her off. This is the worst delta on the team for anyone with over 25 total minutes.
Of course, I’m not saying Carrington is actually a bad defender or that the poor defense is all her fault. Context matters, and Carrington plays heavy minutes surrounded by bad defensive players. But anyone who thought adding her to the team would cover up for its systemic deficiencies was mistaken.
The Wings’ primary rotation bigs cannot protect the rim or guard in space. Teaira McCowan has been in and out of the rotation in a matchup-dependent role due to defensive struggles. Myisha Hines-Allen is severely undersized against most WNBA bigs. NaLyssa Smith is maybe the worst defensive forward in the league, and Dallas’ defensive rating is 19.9 points better when she’s off the floor. These are the three players who have played a majority of the center minutes. International rookie Luisa Geiselsöder finally got rotation run against Seattle and looked good on both ends. She might be the best option for Dallas going forward, but she leaves for EuroBasket competition next week.
Koclanes seems to want to run an aggressive, hedge-heavy style of defense. Unfortunately, Dallas doesn’t have the personnel to execute a scheme like this consistently. And this kind of coverage isn’t always advisable. Against the Chicago Sky, the Wings were blitzing and trapping 36-year-old Courtney Vandersloot, a mediocre shooter who isn’t exactly a threat to take over a game with her scoring. As a result, Kamilla Cardoso got numerous advantageous situations on the short roll against a scrambling Wings defense. Dallas did similar things against the Storm against limited offensive creators such as Alysha Clark and Gabby Williams. It just seems like there isn’t a strong understanding of when to do what or how to adjust.
Hopefully, the defense improves. Getting Bueckers back will help; she is already the Wings’ best perimeter defender. But Koclanes needs to find optimal lineup combinations and do a better job of adjusting his scheme on the fly. There is too much confusion and chaos on the defensive end, and it has to tighten up.
Better days ahead?
The Wings will be a better basketball team than they’ve shown thus far. Bueckers will return and get more comfortable, the coaching staff will (hopefully) learn from what they’ve seen, and new players will settle into their proper roles. But, barring a miraculous turnaround, this is a lottery team again. And honestly, that’s for the best. It was foolish to think the Wings could lose Satou Sabally, replace her with a trio of flawed role players, and compete in 2025, even with Bueckers in tow.
It’s difficult not to look down the road at what will be another very important offseason for Dallas in 2026. They need to add another franchise talent in the draft. I’d be paying attention to 18-year-old Spanish phenom Awa Fam. Fam is a 6’4” center with athleticism, mobility, passing skills, and shooting potential. She’ll be playing with Spain at EuroBasket, and Wings fans should tune in.
The free agent outlook feels a bit more precarious with the current arena/practice facility plans in limbo. With virtually the entire league available in anticipation of the new collective bargaining agreement, Dallas was poised to champion their new facilities as a selling point. If those are delayed, free agents could lack mutual interest. The city and organization would be wise to iron this out as soon as possible.
For a franchise that has spent most of its Dallas history fighting itself, this season feels like the latest version of that. But things are supposed to be different now: Paige Bueckers is on the team. The organization needs to realize what that means and the pressure they’re under. They must find the proper organizational direction. Everyone else on the roster and this staff is expendable; this year’s early returns are proving that.