Unlike most other teams, the Wings don’t have a ton of unrestricted or restricted free agents. Five of their players are still on rookie contracts, four will be reserved free agents, and Lou Lopez Senechal’s and Awak Kuier’s contracts are suspended. Having that much young talent makes the expansion draft all the more difficult, and the Wings won’t be able to avoid losing promising players to the Tempo and Fire.
Since there is no new CBA yet, the expansion draft will take place much later than usual. That delay has given the Wings a chance to further evaluate the young talent on the roster. They got to see them play almost full offseasons instead of just a handful of games before the expansion draft. As a result, the Wings’ decision about Awak Kuier should be a lot easier now.
Getting to see Kuier play 27 games for Galatasaray Cagdas Factoring Istanbul this season likely only solidified GM Curt Miller’s belief that she can be a key piece for the Wings’ future.
The Wings should protect Awak Kuier
Curt Miller has left little doubt that he will choose to protect Kuier when the expansion draft happens. He said on In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams in mid-December that Kuier was “a big, big part” of the Wings’ future. New Wings head coach Jose Fernandez said on the same podcast that “her coming back to the Wings would be very beneficial for her future.”
After all of that, it would be surprising to see the Wings leave Kuier unprotected, and the decision to protect her and potentially bring her back for the 2026 season will look really good after the season she is having in Turkey—something the Wings wouldn’t have been able to judge her by if the expansion draft had happened in December.
After three rather disappointing seasons in the WNBA, Kuier took some time away from Dallas and continued to play in Europe. Her growth has been tremendous.
Kuier is currently averaging 11.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2 blocks in the top Turkish league and 11.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.1 steals over 12 EuroLeague games. She has had to go up against some strong teams, like Fenerbahce, CBK Mersin, Famila Schio, and USK Praha. Nevertheless, Kuier is her team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder, trailing only Minnesota Lynx big Dorka Juhasz. Led by Juhasz and Kuier, Galatasaray has only lost two EuroLeague games and qualified for the Play-Ins.
If Kuier returns to the WNBA, her production will look much different from what it did in her first three seasons.