We’ve all heard the expression “building the airplane while flying it.” For first-time WNBA head coach Jose Fernandez, the metaphor is literal. He isn’t just learning the controls in a professional cockpit—he’s trying to bolt on the engines while the league’s labor landscape remains in a freefall.
A year ago, the Wings were cruising on a paved highway. The expansion rules were settled, free agency was predictable, and the No. 1 pick was a foregone conclusion. This year? That highway is a construction zone of detour signs leading to an endless roundabout.
In the midst of that construction zone, Wings’ General Manager Curt Miller had to make another head coaching hire, one that came with warnings for not only his candidates, but their spouses.
“I was very honest with all the candidates that this is not an easy job,” Miller said. “I not only told the candidates that, but told their significant others that it’s a tough job and there will be lots and lots of scrutiny.”
That scrutiny is compounded by the fallout of a league-wide labor shift. While a verbal agreement was recently reached to move past the standoff, the fact that the WNBA spent the majority of the 2026 offseason without a formal Collective Bargaining Agreement means Fernandez is still effectively building on the fly.
Yet, the man who nearly took the job in 2025 remains the ultimate optimist, saying “I was excited about the roster, I was excited about the possibility of getting the number one pick, and also, after this season, the picks that we have in the first and second round. So a lot of positives.”
Fernandez also mentioned the allure of the team moving from College Park Center in Arlington to a brand-new arena and practice facility in Dallas, a project that has been delayed by the city. The new practice facility is now set to open in 2027 with Memorial Auditorium to follow in 2028, though other proposals remain on the table as well.
The Three Distinct Silos
The verbal agreement on a new WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement hasn’t lessened the chaos of the 2026 off-season; it has merely intensified the pressure to execute. For Curt Miller and Jose Fernandez, the ‘three distinct silos’—free agency, the expansion draft, and the amateur draft—are no longer future projections; they are the immediate, overlapping hurdles to getting a team on the floor.
While the league is currently operating under a handshake deal rather than a formally ratified document, the reality remains stark: 80% of the league is effectively in free agency, and two new expansion teams are poised to raid existing rosters.
The timeline is unprecedented and arguably the most compressed in the history of professional sports. With the Expansion Draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire slated for early April, followed immediately by the WNBA Draft on April 13th, the Wings and other franchises are essentially cramming six months of front-office maneuvering into a frantic five-week window. Training camp is set to begin on April 19th, meaning Fernandez could potentially be meeting the majority of his finalized roster for the first time just 48 hours before the first official practice of the season.
The Expansion Draft
If you talk to Miller and Fernandez, they’ll reference their young core often. The Wings were the youngest team in the league a season ago; which was both a plan and a product of circumstance. Of the players that finished the 2025 season, only Myisha Hines-Allen and Arike Ogunbowale had more than two years of experience, and only Paige Bueckers, Aziaha James, and JJ Quinerly are signed beyond 2026.
“We don’t have the [finalized]expansion draft rules, so there’s a lot of hypothetical planning, but we know we’re one of those rosters that has a nice young core base intentionally,” Miller said. “But unfortunately, we’re probably going to lose some of that core in the expansion draft once we finally realize what the rules will be.”
Last year’s expansion draft rules were fairly straightforward; teams could protect up to six of their players with the singular expansion team—the Golden State Valkyries—able to select a singular player from each existing franchise. The protected list includes players who finished the 2024 season on the team, as well as players whose rights the franchise owns (including core, reserved, and suspended). The Valkyries could also select a singular unrestricted free agent from the league, provided that player has not been “cored” for two or more seasons.
This year’s rules are likely to be significantly different. With two new franchises in the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire, and a league-wide rumor that the protection count will drop from six to five, the math for the Wings gets brutal. Dallas is one of the few teams that owns rights to multiple key players—which, in a two-team draft, makes them a prime target for a roster raid.
Free Agency
While the architects of this Dallas roster are enthused by its youth, they understand that surrounding their young players with talented veterans that fit both on and off the court will be key to their success in 2026.
“[We’re] excited that there’s a young core,” Miller said. “Our charge now is that we have to go add more veteran, high-level players to put around this developing young core. It’s exciting we’ll get another young piece in the draft, but we have to have some veteran, talented free agents to go along with the core.”
When it comes to free agency, the options will be myriad. With the league’s salary cap expected to increase significantly, Dallas is well-positioned to add several high-level players. Priority one, the front office has said, is re-signing their own All WNBA-caliber player, Arike Ogunbowale.
The ‘two ball-dominant players’ debate was the discourse of 2025, but the Wings front office is ready to move past the hypothetical. By working out Ogunbowale multiple times before her Unrivaled season, Fernandez isn’t just looking at the tape, he’s building a relationship with a franchise pillar. Re-signing the All-WNBA guard isn’t just a ‘priority one’ move; it’s a statement that despite the youth movement, the Wings still value their foundation.
“I think first you start with the conversation that Arike’s been very loyal to Dallas and she’s greatly appreciated,” Miller said. “She’s been here for really good times and really bad, some real growing pain years.”
“She’s a proven All-Star, she’s an All-Star MVP. She’s been an All-WNBA player. And so, you know, when the time is right for those free agent conversations, we’ll have a lot of really good conversations with her and her agent. But before everything starts, you have to look back to her and appreciate the loyalty that she’s had for Dallas and with the Wings.”
The Draft
For the second consecutive year, the Dallas Wings find themselves holding the golden ticket: the No. 1 overall pick. But unlike the 2025 draft, where the selection of Paige Bueckers was an etched-in-stone inevitability before the first tip of the college season, 2026 offers no such clarity. Instead, the front office faces a franchise-defining crossroads. Do they take the “sure thing” in UConn’s Azzi Fudd, or do they bet on the meteoric ceiling of Spanish phenom Awa Fam, a 6’4” mobile center whose playmaking and coast-to-coast speed have scouts believing she could be the league’s next unicorn in the post.
If you’re wanting answers, you won’t get them from the front office or the coaching staff.
“We’re very fortunate for a second year in a row to have the number one pick,” Miller said. While it may not be like the last two drafts where Caitlin [Clark] and Paige [Bueckers] were the obvious number one choices, we continue to work, evaluate. But also that decision can be reflective of how it goes with the expansion draft, how it goes in free agency.”
For Jose Fernandez, the choice at No. 1 isn’t just about the biggest name; it’s about finding an engine. His system relies on a relentless transition game where the center is often the most important sprinter on the floor.
“We’re going to rim-run harder,’ Fernandez said. “When we get it off the glass… we’re going to create defensive mismatches with great rim runs.”
For the Wings, the million-dollar question is whether that engine is already in the hangar: perhaps in the 6’7” frame of Li Yueru or the length of Awak Kuir? Or if they need to use the No. 1 pick to import a new one.
In the half-court, Fernandez’s vision for his post players is equally modern. He wants versatility that allows his fours and fives to stretch the floor and create off the bounce as opposed to the back-to-the-basket bruiser of old.
“From position one through four, I love versatility,” Fernandez explained. “People that can create off the bounce, attack the rim, and also stretch the floor by being able to shoot the three.” What does this mean at No. 1? It sure sounds like the decision won’t be made until Dallas has done their due-diligence in free agency.
Scaffolding From the Inside-Out
As much as folks wanted to say otherwise, the 2025 Wings maintained a strong locker room, in large part due to the impact of veterans like Myisha Hines-Allen and Ty Harris. It was an intentional choice to build a strong culture first a season ago, and that pillar remains key heading into 2026.
“The one thing that we’re aligned and collaborative about is you win in the locker room first, and we’re committed to continuing to add great people in that locker room first and foremost,” Miller said. “You can absorb some rough patches and injuries when that locker room is just filled with great people. Some of the leadership was invaluable last season with the limited healthy veterans that we had near the end of the season, so we’ve just got to add more veteran power into that to add to the youthful, exciting young group that we have.”
With an exciting young core and a generational talent at the helm, there is pressure from both within and without to win now. It’s something the Wings’ front office feels and acknowledges, but not something they are willing to sacrifice the long term future to do.
“The coach in me wants to win now,” Miller said.“Jose is going to want to win now. I have to strike a balance on sustainability and making good decisions so that we can have sustained success.”
It also helps to have that generational player, and one that is considered an elite teammate and someone the greats want to play with, Miller added.
“We think that Paige is going to be a magnet. We really do. And [we]believe that people will want to play with Paige.”
“Yeah, I want to win now,” Fernandez agreed. “I think when it’s all said and done—after the number one pick and the roster is set—the goal is getting to the playoffs. As a coach, you have to have that belief, and your players have to have that as well.”
Task number one for Miller and Fernandez will be building a roster; task two will be building a culture. In Fernandez’s eyes, the quality of the job they do on the first won’t matter if they don’t nail the second.
“But again, that’s looking down the road. It’s also about: how can we really get to know each other better every day? How can we strive for incredible success every day? The end result, when you get there, will take care of itself. It’s an exciting time for the Wings franchise, and I’m really glad to be a part of it.”
