The Dallas Wings have not had a strong start to the season so far. Dallas lost both of its games, falling to the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm. Some initial struggles were to be expected from a team that underwent almost a complete roster overhaul and has a new first-time head coach.
Nevertheless, there are some issues the Wings must address immediately if they want to be competitive this season. One of those issues is Arike Ogunbowale’s shooting slump.
Ogunbowale is one of the best scorers in the WNBA, but she has struggled to make her shots to start the season.
The Wings need Arike Ogunbowale to be a more efficient scorer
Arike Ogunbowale has always been a rather inefficient scorer. She only averaged at least 40 percent shooting from the field in two of her first six WNBA seasons. For her career, Ogunbowale averages 39.3 percent shooting on 17.8 field goal attempts.
Her inefficiency has been on full display in the Wings’ first two games of the 2025 season. The guard seems to be in a bad shooting slump. In the season opener against the Lynx, Ogunbowale converted only four of her twelve field goal attempts and missed all three of her shots from long range. Half of her sixteen points came from the free throw line.
Things didn’t look much different against the Storm. Ogunbowale finished the game with eight points, well below her average, and converted only two of her fourteen field goal attempts. She made just one of her eight 3-point attempts, including a bunch of tough misses late in the fourth quarter.
With the Wings’ best scorer struggling to find the bottom of the net, it is not very surprising that the team started the season with two losses. If the Wings want to get some wins and battle for a playoff spot, they will need Ogunbowale to be better offensively. She is, after all, the team’s veteran All-Star.
The Wings are still building chemistry
At least some of Ogunbowale’s struggles can likely be attributed to the new team and system she is still getting used to. Only three players currently on the Wings’ roster played in Dallas last season—Arike Ogunbowale, Maddy Siegrist, and Teaira McCowan. Everyone else, including the coach, is new to the team. On top of that, Paige Bueckers, Aziaha James, and JJ Quinerly are also new to the WNBA.
It will take some time for the Wings to build chemistry and find a rhythm. The team’s current lack of chemistry has been obvious in several aspects of the game. For example, they turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter, most of which were the result of errant passes. Some more time on the court with her new teammates may be just what Ogunbowale needs to help her get out of this shooting slump.