The Dallas Wings last clinched a playoff berth in 2023, a year that they went on to lose to the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. Prior to that, they hadn’t made it out of the first round since before the team moved to Dallas in 2016.
This season, they’re looking to change that fate. The 2026 season started in a promising manner, full of potential and riding a high of back-to-back No. 1 overall draft picks. They were 18-9 before the All-Star break; Azzi Fudd was finding her groove and establishing her role on the team, Jessica Shepard was having the best season of her career, and Paige Bueckers was showing up in the clutchest of moments.
However, after the break, things slowed to a crawl for the once-thriving Wings squad. They went 3-7 in their first ten games back. Shepard missed some time due to injury, and perhaps the worst news of all: Fudd is out for the season. This is undoubtedly a gigantic blow to Dallas, but luckily for the Wings, Shepard returned to action just before the FIBA World Cup break, and the team got some confidence back. They went 4-0 heading into the recent hiatus, clinching their spot in the 2026 postseason.
Even with the sun peeking back in on their season, the question of how this team will fare in their hunt for a ring still lingers. Especially in the wake of losing one of their top-four scorers, fans are hoping Bueckers will act as the team’s guiding light. And based on what we’ve seen in the past, they’re not too far off.
We could be seeing a version of Bueckers that the WNBA has yet to get a taste of.
Where It All Began
In 2020, freshman Bueckers hit the ground running at UConn. The world of women’s college basketball truly didn’t know what hit them. She was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 20 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. Bueckers was the first freshman ever to win AP Player of the Year. But she didn’t stop there. She remained UConn’s leading scorer through the next three years of her career, became a three-time First Team All-American, a two-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner, and perhaps most importantly, an NCAA national champion. To put it lightly, Bueckers knows how to win.
Last year, her Rookie of the Year-winning season ended in a way she was not used to — a 10-34 record and no ticket to the postseason. During her four-year stint at UConn, all Bueckers knew was Big East titles, deep March Madness tournament runs, and carrying on the rich Huskies legacy. Now, she has the chance to remind everyone exactly how she operates when her team’s season is on the line.
Bueckers ‘Win or Go Home’ History
It might be Bueckers’ WNBA playoff debut, but it’s far from her first rodeo.
During her four years at UConn, Bueckers played in a total of 12 Big East Tournament matchups — winning the title all four years — and 22 March Madness games. She advanced to the Final Four in two seasons and the national championship in the other two.
In her first two collegiate years, she played incredibly well in March Madness, averaging 21.6 points her freshman year and 15.1 points per game her sophomore year. Her career was put on hold when she tore her ACL, forcing her to miss the 2022-23 season. But when she returned, her last two seasons at UConn were when her dominant postseason presence really took off.
The Huskies went 26-5 during the regular season of Bueckers’ junior year. She averaged 20.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game through her 31 appearances. During the Big East Tournament, she upped all of those numbers, averaging 27.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.0 steals, and 4.0 blocks per game. The trend continued; during March Madness, she averaged 25.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game — making her the team’s leading scorer in four of the five tournament games and leading her team to the Final Four.
During her senior season, Bueckers was relied on in nearly every aspect. With it being her last chance to win a ring at UConn, it quickly became clear there was no ‘Win or Go Home ’; it was just ‘Win.’
UConn closed out the regular season with a 28-3 record. Bueckers averaged 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. She secured her fourth straight Big East tournament title, averaging 22.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game. She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third time in her career. Next, on the road to winning UConn’s first title since 2016, Bueckers averaged 24.8 points, 4.0 rebounds per game, 3.3 assists, 2.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game.
Her most impressive senior year game came during the Sweet 16, an 82-59 win over the Oklahoma Sooners. Bueckers put up a career-high 40 points, six rebounds, one assist, three steals, and two blocks.
Those are a lot of numbers to digest. To put it a little more simply — through her final two seasons at UConn, on average, Bueckers scored 5.6 more points in games where her team’s tournament hopes were on the line.
Perhaps what should excite Dallas fans most is that Bueckers’ defense has proven to thrive in the biggest of moments. Her blocks and steals per game increased between the regular season and tournaments during her last two years at UConn. Across both seasons, she averaged one more block per game than in the regular season. In her senior year, Bueckers recorded at least two steals and two blocks in five of the nine Big East and NCAA Tournament games UConn appeared in.
Additionally, Bueckers just competed in the FIBA World Cup — her first win-or-go-home tournament since playing at UConn. Through the group phase, she led Team USA in blocks, averaging 1.3 per game.
A Leader-First Mentality
While history and statistics have shown Bueckers to be a better player in the postseason, let’s say her numbers stay the same. This season, she’s averaging 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists, shooting 50.6 percent from the floor. She is already the Wings’ most reliable player. We’ve seen her show up cool, calm, and collected in the clutchest of moments this season. Even if we don’t see a crazy jump in production, Dallas fans should still feel more confident than ever with Bueckers’ presence alone.
She’s a known leader. We already covered her accolades, with a special note to the fact that she led her team to the Final Four in each of her four collegiate seasons. And no one would better attest to that stewardship than the teammates who were right beside her during those deep runs.
Per CT Insider’s Maggie Vanoni, Bueckers’ former UConn teammates see her as much more than a dominant force on the court. During the Huskies’ championship-winning run, 37th-overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Aubrey Griffin told Vanoni, “The way (Bueckers) brings a certain kind of energy and intensity to the game that everyone kind of feeds off of, that’s been a huge thing for our team this whole year… And her leadership, I would say, is one of those big things too.”
Big East Sixth-Woman of the Year in 2025, Ashlynn Shade, had her own praise for Bueckers. She told Vanoni, “She expects so much out of all of us, but she has the biggest confidence for every single one of us that when she does need to get serious, we all listen and we accept it.”
While she may no longer be the oldest or most experienced on her team, she’s already gotten some glowing reviews in only her second season with the Wings.
“What she continues to get better and better at is her voice. This has truly become her team,” Dallas General Manager Curt Miller told reporters. “She’s really a leader, not only during games, but on the practice floor, in the locker room, off the floor…”
Playoff teams, at any level and in any league, live and die by their leaders and their best players stepping up in the biggest of moments. This year’s Dallas Wings team is no different. But rest assured, the Wings’ fate won’t be riding entirely on Bueckers.
For example, three-time WNBA Champion Alysha Clark could be a big difference-maker in providing this team with a seasoned shoulder to lean on. Arike Ogunbowale has been to the playoffs three different times in her career. There are plenty of other qualified leaders in the locker room. However, they’ll absolutely be looking at Bueckers to turn things up a notch with some high-impact performances.
If history repeats itself, like it tends to do, these other playoff teams need to prepare for playoff Paige Bueckers to hit the WNBA postseason.