The Dallas Wings currently employ three million-dollar players: Alanna Smith, Arike Ogunbowale, and Jessica Shepard—their loyal star guard and their two biggest offseason acquisitions. Ogunbowale was bound to get a lot of money from the Wings after sticking with the franchise through its many ups and downs in recent years, but signing Smith and Shepard to max contracts was a gamble. Both were role players on their previous team, and the Wings decided to pay them like stars.
That gamble has worked out beautifully with Jessica Shepard. She is averaging 13.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game and has already recorded two triple-doubles. Smith, on the other hand, has struggled immensely, and head coach Jose Fernandez even chose to start Maddy Siegrist in her place. That makes her the most expensive 15-minute-per-game backup in the W.
But Fernandez sees a light at the end of the tunnel and expects Smith to be much better when she can play without the face mask she has had to wear all season long.
“I thought she did a really good job,” Fernandez said about Smith after a 96-66 win against the Las Vegas Aces. “She went to the glass. She had a couple nice cuts. She had a finish on that reverse lay-in. She’s struggled with that, but she’s continued to keep a good attitude, and she’s a good teammate, and once she gets that thing [the mask] off, I think she’s going to be a totally different basketball player.”
Smith suffered another hit in the face during the game, so it’s still uncertain how much longer she will have to wear the mask.
The Wings need more out of Smith
Getting more production out of Smith isn’t just about her salary. Obviously, you want a player on a max contract to average more than 3.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.4 blocks in 16.3 minutes per game. It’s also about what Dallas needs to compete consistently with the other top teams in the WNBA. They may have beaten the Aces twice already and the Liberty once, but they have also lost games to the Dream and Lynx.
The Wings allow the second-most paint points per game this season. Azzi Fudd currently leads the team in blocks per game. A 5’11” guard should not be your leading shot blocker, but especially not if you signed the reigning co-DPOY to a max contract in the offseason. With Smith looking very much unlike herself, Awak Kuier is the only rim-protecting big—she’s averaging 1 block per game—in the rotation, and the starting frontcourt of Siegrist and Shepard features little to no paint defense.
The last time the Lynx beat the Wings, Natasha Howard even said in the postgame media availability how nice it was to play against a team that could defend the paint or protect the rim.
Outside of Shepard, the Wings are also very low on rebounding—although Shepard grabs so many boards that the Wings still rank sixth in rebounds per game—so getting more production from Smith on the glass would also help the team.
All of this will be even more important when the playoffs roll around. Kuier and Li Yueru are unproven in the WNBA playoffs, and Siegrist barely played 20 postseason minutes in 2023.
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