It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings. The Wings, who had won 6 straight games entering the All-Star break, had dropped 5 of 6 games since, slipping through the WNBA standings.
Paige Bueckers just showed Wings fans why the future is bright
After a scoreless first half, the Dallas Wings superstar went off for 22 points in the second half in a win against the Toronto Tempo.
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.
On top of some inconsistent play, the roster has been marred by injuries to several of its top players: Azzi Fudd has been sidelined for nearly a week with knee soreness, and Jessica Sheppard has missed the last two games with an ankle injury.
On Wednesday night, it looked like the Wings could be headed for a 6th post- All-Star break loss against a Toronto Tempo team that has now lost 10 straight games. But Bueckers had other plans for her squad.
The second-year guard went scoreless in the first half, missing all 7 of her field goal attempts. But she came out of halftime with a different energy, hitting 7 of 11 field goal attempts en route to a 22-point second half. Bueckers ultimately finished the game with 8 assists, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds to go along with her 22 points.
The result?
A 94-88 win over the Tempo that improved the Wings’ record to 20-14 and moved them up to 7th in the league standings. That means if the playoffs began today, Dallas would face the Golden State Valkyries in the first round.
For Dallas, the season has had its fair share of ups and downs. While Bueckers has had an MVP-caliber season, the team has dealt with its litany of issues. For example, Alanna Smith has at times struggled to stay on the court; last year’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year is playing just 16.7 minutes per game for the Wings.
Arike Ogunbowale, while embracing a more secondary scoring role, has continued to struggle with inefficiency; she’s shooting 38.8% from the field and 33.9% from beyond the arc. Jessica Shepard has had an elite season offensively — she’s averaging 14.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game — but she’s struggled on the defensive end, as has Dallas as a squad.
While the 2026 season marks a notable improvement from 2025, Dallas still appears to be a piece or two away from true championship contention.
Still, on Wednesday night, Bueckers showed the Wings fanbase why the future is extremely bright: regardless of the other moving pieces, Dallas has one of the best players in women’s basketball.
While it hasn’t been a perfect couple of weeks, the 24-year-old put together the kind of second-half performance only superstars can pull off.
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