The Dallas Wings have added another player to their roster after a busy summer of free agency — guard McKenzie Forbes, who was selected 28th overall by the Los Angeles Sparks last season.
Latest Dallas Wings free agency acquisition makes for a USC reunion
McKenzie Forbes signed a training camp contract with the Wings — reuniting with her former coach, Chris Koclanes.
Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
Forbes is an elite three-point shooter whose collegiate career included stints at UC Berkeley, Harvard, and USC. In her graduate season at USC, Forbes led the team to a Pac-12 Tournament championship, scoring 26 points in the title game. That season, she averaged a career-high 14.3 points, shooting 37.4% from three. She also averaged a career-high 3.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Though she was drafted, she was ultimately waived by the Sparks at the end of training camp and has since played professionally in Australia and New Zealand. She’s currently playing in Athletes Unlimited, a professional women’s basketball taking place in Nashville, Tennessee. AU maintains a player leaderboard and determines an individual champion after the five-week season. Forbes currently ranks 25th among the 40 participating players.
What McKenzie Forbes brings to the Dallas Wings
For Forbes, the signing is a reunion with two key figures in her past: Curt Miller, who was the head coach of the Sparks last season and is now the Wings’ general manager, and Chris Koclanes. Koclanes is the Wings’ newly-hired head coach and was an assistant for USC last year when Forbes played some of the best basketball of her career. Koclanes, who worked under Miller for 8 years in the WNBA, was Forbes’ position coach at USC.
A training camp contract is not a guarantee she will have a spot on the Wings’ roster. But, the 6’0 guard/forward does get a chance to compete for one under the leadership of two individuals who are intimately familiar with her game. Forbes has the makings of a potentially solid role player down the stretch — and she’ll get a chance to potentially contribute to a revamped roster.
The Wings lost several key players this offseason, headlined by Satou Sabally (trade) and Natasha Howard (free agency). Jacy Sheldon was also traded to the Connecticut Sun.
In their place, the Wings acquired DiJonai Carrington, Ty Harris, and NaLyssa Smith via trade, and signed Myisha Hines-Allen in free agency. They also have the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, which they’re widely expected to select Paige Buckers with. Franchise player Arike Ogunbowale is back for another season. It will be an uphill battle for Forbes get a contract, and ultimately minutes, in Dallas — but it certainly helps that she has Koclanes and Miller running the show.
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