Wings Things: Paige Bueckers is on a tear and she wants her whistle

Yahoo

6 days ago

Paige Bueckers #5 of the Dallas Wings handles the ball during the game against the Connecticut Sun on June 20, 2025 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. | Photo by Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images
Fresh off her first Texas Rangers baseball game, when she threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Rangers fell 6-3 against the Royals on Wednesday, star Dallas Wings (3-11) rookie Paige Bueckers scored 21 points on Friday to lead the Wings to their second straight win, 86-83, at the Connecticut Sun (2-11).
Bueckers has scored 35, 20 and now 21 in her last three games, just the eighth, ninth and 10th games in her WNBA career. She came into Friday's game at Mohegan Sun Arena sitting in sixth place in WNBA All-Star voting, but after performances like these last three, she can only move up in the coming days. If her current stat lines hold up across her rookie campaign, she will become the only player in league history to average 15 points, five assists and two steals or more per game in their rookie season.
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Bueckers shot 7-of-16 from the field and dished seven assists in the win. She was also whistled for a technical foul after campaigning for a whistle after canning a baseline jumper off Li Yueru's offensive board with 3:14 left in the second quarter. She clapped her hands in the direction of the official on her way back down the floor on defense and chuckled to herself after picking up the first technical foul of her pro career.
Bueckers effectively fought through a blitzing Sun defense when she brought the ball up the floor, she's always on the move without the ball and she's no slouch on the defensive end, either. Her second steal of the game came on a Sun inbound pass and led to a leak out and layup by fellow rookie Azaiah James, who the Wings took with the 12th overall pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft, on the other end.
She's patient with the ball and is absolutely lethal in the mid-range. And even at this early stage of her pro career, Bueckers wants her whistle as opposing defenses hound her with the ball. She came into the game against the Sun leading the league in scoring this month, at better than 23 points per game in June.
NaLyssa Smith picked up two early fouls but was the closest thing to instant offense the Wings could muster in the first quarter. Wings head coach Chris Koclanes stayed with her despite those two fouls to some impressive early returns on the offensive end. Smith hit four of her five looks from the mid-range to pace Dallas with eight points in the opening frame.
Paige Bueckers #5 of the Dallas Wings shoots the ball during the game against the Connecticut Sun on June 20, 2025 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Bueckers rose up through the double-team of Bria Hartley and Lindsay Allen late in the shot clock on Dallas' final possession of the first quarter for a running jumper and a 3-point play to put the Wings up 21-15 after one. Then she ran a little Allen Iverson cut and pulled up three feet behind the 3-point line on the Wings' first possession of the second for her first long ball of the game to put Dallas up 24-15.
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Turnovers have been the thorn in the Wings' side all year, though, and four consecutive giveaways early in the third fed a little 10-0 Sun run to take a 25-24 lead after Bueckers found her rhythm. Dallas turned the ball over 10 times in the first 14 minutes of the game, but held onto the ball a little better for the final six minutes of the first half.
James earned the second start of her WNBA career in the win over the Sun, starting the last two wins in place of DiJonai Carrington, who until Tuesday was a fixture in the first five for the Wings. The WNBA's Most Improved Player from 2024 has made a habit of turning the ball over in recent games and came into the matchup in Connecticut leading the Wings with 2.8 giveaways per game.
James, for her part, is finding her way as an up-and-coming playmaker for the Wings. She scored 10 of her 17 points (a new career high mark) in the third quarter and dished five assists in Friday's win. James finished a fast break off Smith's steal midway through the third with a behind-the-back find for a Smith, who was trailing the play, to give Dallas a 58-50 lead. James and Bueckers combined to hit 13-of-15 from the free throw line in the win over the Sun.
'We're a bunch of dogs on this team,' James said in her televised postgame interview. 'And I'm just ready when my number is called.'
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Dallas scored a season high 109 points in the team's first trip to Connecticut this season, beating the Sun by 22 on May 27. Bueckers had a team-high 21 points in that win as well.
Arike Ogunbowale was a non-factor for Dallas in the win, scoring just five points on 2-of-8 shooting in the win, until she hit a big shot late in the fourth. Bueckers passed out of a double-team at the top of the key to find Ogunbowale open for three along the left wing to put Dallas up 79-73 with less than three minutes to play.
Tina Charles, the WNBA's second all-time leading scorer, led Connecticut with 26 points and six rebounds in the loss. Yueru contributed 11 points and nine boards off the bench for Dallas in her Wings' debut.
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