Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale might be the WNBA’s most dangerous scoring combo

The Dallas Wings suddenly have one of the league's most intriguing backcourts. One year after Dallas ran out a combination of Odyssey Sims, Sevgi Uzun and Jacy Sheldon as its backcourt pairing with Arike Ogunbowale, the team majorly upgraded at point guard by drafting UConn star Paige Bueckers.

This should be an explosive backcourt, but will it be the highest-scoring guard duo in the league in 2025? There are a number of really good backcourt pairings so while Ogunbowale was the league's top-scoring guard last year, that doesn't necessarily mean that with Bueckers beside her, the two will outscore every other backcourt.

So, who is the highest-scoring backcourt duo going to be in 2025?

First, what are the projected starting backcourts in the WNBA?

There's some guesswork here, but here are who the 12 non-Dallas teams will probably start at guard.

There's obviously some guesswork there. Washington, in particular, is a tough one to figure out. Georgia Amoore could take the point guard role, or the team could play big with Aaliyah Edwards at the three and Sonia Citron at the two, or maybe even Sug Sutton could get in there.

But let's go ahead and eliminate the teams that are clearly not competition for the Wings' backcourt. From the above list, we're saying goodbye to Atlanta, Chicago, Connecticut, Golden State, Los Angeles and Washington.

That leaves Indiana, Las Vegas, Minnesota, New York, Seattle and maybe Phoenix.

The "maybe" on Phoenix is because it's hard to really say who the point guard is. Alyssa Thomas will likely play a point forward role while Sami Whitcomb or Sevgi Uzun starts at what's technically point guard, so it really depends on how we slice this. Just for fun, let's say Thomas counts for these purposes, because why not?

Let's also go ahead and eliminate Seattle. I just don't think Erica Wheeler's going to score enough to make a difference.

So, let's make the cases for everyone left.

Why these WNBA teams could have the highest-scoring backcourt in 2025?

Dallas Wings

Arike Ogunbowale was the highest-scoring guard in the league last season, averaging 22.2 points per game. Bueckers averaged 19.9 points per game at UConn, so if the two both hit those same numbers, they'll likely take the cake as the highest-scoring guard duo.

But, like ... you know it's not that easy.

First, the presence of another on-ball guard beside Ogunbowale is likely to lead to a dip in her volume. Increased efficiency in a slightly reduced role can make up for some of that scoring loss, but not all of it. We're more likely to see something like 2022 Arike, when she shot 40 percent from the floor but on 2.2 fewer attempts per game than in 2024, which led to her averaging 19.7 points per contest.

And then Bueckers is going to be a rookie, so she's likely to struggle a bit more to score than she did in college. Hitting that 19.9 mark will be tough — that'd be more than Caitlin Clark averaged as a rookie, and Bueckers is probably going to be a little more deferential.

On the other hand, the Wings don't have a lot of great scorers outside of the backcourt. DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith and Teaira McCowan are all good players, but outside of maybe Smith, none are going to be high-volume scorers, so maybe I'm wrong to assume Ogunbowale suffers fall-off in her scoring output.

Indiana Fever

If you look at the top 10 scorers in the league last year, three teams had a pair of teammates on the list, but just one of those pairs was a backcourt duo, as Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell both average 19.2 points per game for the Fever.

38.4 points per game from a backcourt duo is really good, but will the Fever reach that mark again this season? Well, there are arguments for and against that.

The "for" argument is that Clark has another year of experience under her belt and should up her scoring production in 2025.

The "against" argument is that by adding DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard in free agency, there won't be as many shots to go around, which could specifically cause issues for Mitchell. Last year was the best scoring season of her career, so slipping back into the mid-17s as a scoring average wouldn't be shocking at all.

Las Vegas Aces

This should be interesting, as the Aces replaced Kelsey Plum — No. 10 in scoring last season — with Jewell Loyd, who finished No. 6 in scoring. Loyd's capable of lighting up the scoreboard every time out.

But with A'ja Wilson locked in as the top scorer in Vegas, Loyd's ceiling is probably right about where she finished last year, so for the Aces to have the best scoring backcourt, the team would need Chelsea Gray to ball out.

I still think Gray is an elite point guard when healthy, but she averaged just 8.6 points per game last year and has averaged over 15 per game just once in her WNBA career. We're probably a couple years too late for this duo to come out on top.

Minnesota Lynx

You know what? I love Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride, but I don't really think they can be the answer here. They combined to average 26.1 points per game last year, and with Napheesa Collier as the scoring leader for the team, there's really not a good case here.

New York Liberty

Sabrina Ionescu will likely finish as a top 10 scorer once again, but new backcourt-mate Natasha Cloud will likely average somewhere between 10 and 12 points per game. Her 3-point shooting woes lower the upside of this duo, as does the simple fact that there is only one basketball on the court at once and the Liberty also have Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Marine Johannès.

Phoenix Mercury

Alright, here's an interesting one. Kahleah Copper was third in the WNBA in scoring last season at 21.1 points per game, just 1.1 behind Ogunbowale.

Now, if we go with the idea that Alyssa Thomas is the point guard in Phoenix — at least on offense, since the focus of this discussion is offense — then we get a really interesting discussion here, but one that probably falls just a bit short. Thomas has never averaged more than 15.5 points per game, a number she's hit twice. Playing with torn shoulder labrums for the last half-decade or so has meant Thomas has limited scoring range, so there's only so much she can do.

This could be the pairing that generates the most points if you include assists, as Thomas will likely be top two in assists again with Caitlin Clark, but if we're just talking about points scored by Thomas and Copper, the duo likely comes up just a bit short.

So, will the Dallas Wings have the highest-scoring backcourt?

It's either Dallas or Indiana, but which will it be?

For my money, I think the answer is Indiana, but just barely. And I mean, just, like we're talking within one or two points per game on average.

That's because I expect Clark and Ogunbowale to average around the same number of points per game, meaning this is down to a discussion of Mitchell vs. Bueckers.

We've seen Mitchell score at the WNBA level. We've seen her and Clark play off each other effectively. What we don't know is how Bueckers will look. Will she play more of a distributor role?

But then again, who else is going to score in Dallas? Maybe I'm talking myself back the other direction.

ARGH.

Alright, final answer: no, the Wings backcourt won't be the highest-scoring in the league. That will be the Indiana Fever. But it's going to be close — really close. Close enough that I'd probably say that post-All-Star break, the Dallas backcourt will outscore the Indiana backcourt, but the Fever will have enough of a head start to stay in front.