The Dallas Wings had to brave a tough stretch of games against the Golden State Valkyries, Minnesota Lynx, and Indiana Fever without Azzi Fudd, and Jessica Shepard missed a few of those games as well. Without two starters, the Wings went 1-4, dropping to eighth place in the standings behind the New York Liberty and Washington Mystics.
It’s been a rough stretch, but the Wings still have a 4.5-game lead over the Portland Fire for the final playoff spot, and the bottom half of the playoff picture is pretty much where they’re supposed to be. Despite the rough stretch, they are right on schedule with a second-year player and a rookie playing key roles.
This is the Wings’ first season of being competitive with Paige Bueckers on the roster
Going from the bottom of the standings to making the playoffs isn’t easy, even with back-to-back number-one picks. Going from the bottom of the league to the top of the standings in just one year is almost impossible.
The Wings finished Paige Bueckers’s first season in the W with an abysmal 10-34 record. Going from that to already winning 20 games with eight matchups still left in the regular season with a second-year player, a rookie, and a former reserve thrust into a star role leading the charge is a massive accomplishment.
After remaking the roster in the offseason and hiring a new coach, the expectation for the Wings was clearly to make the playoffs. Of course, it would be nice to accomplish that goal with a top seed and home-court advantage, but if the Wings end up somewhere between sixth and eighth, they are right on schedule.
Just look at the Fever. They had back-to-back number-one picks in 2023 and 2024. They missed the playoffs in Aliyah Boston’s first season, just like the Wings did in Bueckers’s first year, but made it when Caitlin Clark joined the team. They finished sixth with a 20-20 record and were swept in the first round. The next year, they went to the semifinals. Now, they are a top-four team and a potential championship contender.
The Wings may not finish quite as high as the Fever did in 2024, but the league is also much better this season. In 2024, the Fever managed to finish sixth without a winning record. Only five teams won more games than they lost. This year, eight teams are on track to finish the season with a winning record, including the Wings.
Even if it ends up being a short playoff appearance as a low seed, Dallas is headed in the right direction.
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