The number one overall pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft is living up to her billing one month into her promising career. Paige Bueckers is fifth among all guards (not just rookies) in assists per game, second among all rookies in field goal percentage, and she averages more steals than any player in the league, regardless of experience or position.
The Wings have only won two games so far, but there's a lot going on in Dallas. They brought in several new players, a dynamic rookie, and hired a first-time head coach. Not everything has been peachy for Chris Koclanes thus far, but their performance against the Las Vegas Aces before the collapse and their win against the Valkyries are encouraging.
With Paige playing like this and so much of the season left, this team can still turn things around. We've seen it just as recently as last season.
Paige and Wings can follow same path as Caitlin Clark and Fever
In Clark's rookie year, Indiana stumbled out of the gate just like the Wings have. The Fever's first game was against the Connecticut Sun before they blew up their team over the summer, and that squad had immense talent. They blew Indy's doors off 92-71, and they followed that shellacking up by getting destroyed by the eventual champion New York Liberty 103-66.
Caitlin didn't see her first win in the W until she got acquainted with five straight losses first. They were 2-9 before they started to figure things out. At 2-11, Dallas still has a chance to get back on track. The Fever finished their season with a 20-20 record, which earned them the sixth seed in the playoffs.
There are 44 games this year, so they have a little more time to get their bearings together, but it starts by building off of their defensive performance against Natalie Nakase's Valkyries and designing the offense around Paige's strengths. She should be the hub because of how unselfish her game is.
Because of her efficiency, she doesn't need to take a bunch of shots to be effective. She's going to put points on the board, and everyone else around her should be able to eat off her plate.
Now, she's not Clark so she's not bombing threes from the logo, but she doesn't need to. Caitlin's shooting while dynamic, led to a lower field goal percentage (42%). Bueckers sits at 47%. That's impressive for a guard, and a rookie at that.
I mentioned earlier that she's only second among rookie guards in field goal percentage, but she's really number one. The player sitting atop that stat is Te-Hina PaoPao, and no disrespect to her, but she only takes four shots a night in 13 minutes. Paige is out there for 35 minutes per game, averaging 14 attempts.
She isn't loud, but she leads by example and gets the job done. The Wings were in the right place at the right time to bring a talent like Bueckers to D-Town, and they'll thrive as an organization because of it. Just give it time.