The Dallas Wings made the pick everyone expected, selecting Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft. The 2024 season might've been a disastrous one for the Wings, but getting Bueckers, one of the highest-touted collegiate prospects in recent memory, has the potential to be a franchise-changer for a city in dire need of one, particularly in this sport.
Bueckers averaged 19.8 points per game to go along with 4.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists in her historically great four-year career with the UConn Huskies. She also, of course, topped off her collegiate career with a National Championship win just weeks ago. Bueckers was three rebounds shy of a triple-double in UConn's National Championship win.
It goes without saying that she will immediately enter Dallas' starting lineup at the start of the 2025 campaign. Here's who she's slated to start alongside to begin her professional career.
Projected Dallas Wings lineup after making the no-brainer Paige Bueckers selection
Player | Position |
|---|---|
Paige Bueckers | Point Guard |
Arike Ogunbowale | Shooting Guard |
NaLyssa Smith | Small Forward |
Joyner Holmes | Power Forward |
Joyner Holmes | Center |
Immediately, this Wings lineup receives a major boost by adding Bueckers, a player who should become a star rather quickly.
What's most intriguing about this selection is that the Wings now have one of the best backcourts in the WNBA by pairing Bueckers Arike Ogunbowale a four-time All-Star guard. Ogunbowale might be most known for her tendency to hit buzzer beaters in huge games for Notre Dame, but she has made quite the career in the WNBA for herself. She averaged 20.8 points per game this past season, her sixth time eclipsing the 20 point mark on average in her six professional seasons.
The Wings will have to find a way to replace Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard, the team's second and third leading scorers from last season who departed over the offseason, but Bueckers' insertion into the mix puts them on the right track in that regard.
Another intriguing factor for Wings fans to think about is that Bueckers will be joining head coach Chris Koclanes as fresh faces in Dallas. While there's reason to have high hopes for the Wings, especially in the future, it might take time for everyone to gel.
There are questions about how everyone will fit, and about the frontcourt, but Bueckers, particularly paired with Ogunbowale, should be so fun to watch.