Nearly two months have passed since the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers, but Dallas isn't over it. How is a city supposed to get over losing a player who was supposed to retire there? That was supposed to lead the Mavs back to the promised land?
Losing Doncic will always sting, especially given the circumstances surrounding the trade. Nico Harrison betrayed the city, and he'll never be able to mend the divide that he created. There are former Mavericks fans who no longer want anything to do with the organization, at least not until Harrison is gone.
Not all hope is lost for Dallas, at least when it comes to the Wings. The WNBA team won the draft lottery (ironically over LA) and on April 14, selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick. If there is one player who can breathe life back into a city that needs to find a way to love basketball again, it's Paige.
Bueckers is a generational talent who will transform the Wings. Look at what she did during the five years in Connecticut. Her time at UConn ended in a storybook fashion, with her leading the Huskies to their first national title since 2016.
The Wings haven't won a championship since relocating to Texas. The franchise was founded in Detroit in 1998 during the inaugural WNBA season, and the Shock won three titles. They relocated to Tulsa in 2010, before arriving in Dallas in 2016. The Wings took a big step toward bringing a trophy to Dallas by drafting Bueckers, the new face of the franchise.
Paige Bueckers will help Dallas love basketball again after losing Luka
Bueckers is excited to make Dallas her home and help build something special with the Wings. Her arrival couldn't have come at a better time. Women's basketball has been on the rise, and Dallas is now the place to be. The Bueckers hype will only continue to grow.
Unfortunately, the Wings' rise correlates with what very well could be the beginning of the Mavericks' downfall. Bueckers won't change what's happened in Dallas' NBA realm, but she'll help the city take a step forward. And for the Mavericks fans who don't closely follow the WNBA, Bueckers has given them a huge reason to change that.
The WNBA regular season will begin on May 16, so Dallas won't have to wait long to watch its new star in action. The Luka trade and its aftermath were an absolute mess, but thankfully, the stars aligned perfectly for the Wings. Dallas has officially entered its Paige Bueckers era.