WNBA gameday discussion: The Dallas Wings have escaped ineptitude, and the Chicago Sky haven’t—because only one team has Paige Bueckers

The Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings ended the 2025 WNBA season at the bottom of the standings, with both teams struggling their way to 10 wins.

This offseason, the Sky and Wings aimed to escape their shared ineptitude with aggressive renovations of their rosters.

In Chicago, the process began with shipping Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream before building a more veteran, balanced roster around Kamilla Cardoso. Through trades and free agency, the organization added Skylar Diggins, DiJonai Carrington, Azurá Stevens, Rickea Jackson and Jacy Sheldon, in addition to re-signing Courtney Vandersloot, eventually signing Natasha Cloud and drafting Gabriela Jaquez with the No. 5 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

Blessed with the No. 1 pick in the draft, Dallas decided to reunite Azzi Fudd with Paige Bueckers after their own eager free agency actions, headlined by the importing of the former Minnesota Lynx duo of Jessica Shepard and Alanna Smith. The Wings retained Arike Ogunbowale, welcomed Awak Kueir back to the W and filled out their roster with veterans Odyssey Sims and Alysha Clark.

All that activity inspired early-season optimism in Chicago, as angst percolated in Dallas.

Despite beginning the season with four-straight road games, the Sky were 3-1 when they finally took the court in Chicago, hosting the Wings for their first home game of the season on May 20. Dallas was 2-2, with losses that featured concerning late collapses, especially on the defensive end.

In retrospect, the Wings’ 10-point win, achieved after a double-digit comeback, appears to have been the pivot point for both teams.

Against Dallas that day, Chicago was playing their first full game without Rickea Jackson, who was blossoming into a first-option offensive star before suffering an ACL tear in the prior game. It was the first of an eventual five-game losing skid, a streak that erased any and all Sky sanguinity. Since then, Chicago also experienced a six-game losing streak.

Then, the return of Vandersloot, a should-have-been celebration that could have steadied the Sky’s season, especially as her first game back after missing over a year of action for ACL recovery resulted in a record-breaking win, has produced complication and consternation, with the organization opting to elevate Sloot into the starting lineup over Diggins, who didn’t hesitate to air out her irritation about the change.

Diggins hasn’t played since, in street clothes for the Sky’s last two games with a knee injury. She’s out again on Sunday for the now 7-15 Sky, who are in 13th place and four games out of the final playoff spot.

After their comeback win in Chicago, Dallas lost their next game before reeling off four-straight wins. That streak included a win over the New York Liberty in Brooklyn that proved to be the Fudd breakout game. The No. 1 pick enjoyed a 3-point outburst, with her six triples helping the Wings secure the 15-point win.

The next game, Azzi was in the starting group as the Wings defeated the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces at home. Fudd is now a starting fixture, while Shepard has sustained her early-season success, securing her third triple-double of the season when the Wings, yet again, earned a recent road win over the Liberty.

The Wings currently claim a 15-8 overall record and the fourth spot in the WNBA standings, which would be good for homecourt advantage in the playoffs.

It’s a position that also would not possible without Bueckers, who has been burnishing her brilliance as she has begun to to consistently come through for the Wings in the biggest moments.

Dallas welcomes to Chicago to American Airlines Arena on Sunday night as winners of four-straight—largely due to Bueckers (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Back in Husky-filled Hartford, Paige shut down the possibility of a Connecticut Sun upset with an 11-point fourth quarter. She then tortured the Tempo in Toronto before putting on a masterclass against them in Montreal in front of the largest crowd in WNBA history. Paige poured in a season-high 34 points, contributing six boards, six assists and two steals in the Wings’ eventual 13-point win.

demonstrable?

There are multiple ways to interpret and explain the divergent paths of the Sky and Wings since their first meeting of the season almost two months ago.

Those eager to agitate about the incompetence of the Sky can marshal plenty of evidence to suggest the season has unfolded as it has because of perpetually poor processes, from the Reese trade to on-going examples of questionable asset management to roster-building decisions to the coaching of head coach Tyler Marsh.

Those inclined to give Chicago the benefit of the doubt, in contrast, can cast injuries as the primary reason for the Sky’s problems. Had Jackson avoided injury, and had the likes of Vandersloot, Stevens and Carrington, who still has yet to play this season, not missed significant time, the team could have built on their early, winning momentum.

On the Dallas side, their rise makes it easy to endorse their offseason moves. Their investment in Shepard showed foresight, as the organization was right to believe in her untapped offensive potential. The selection of Fudd first overall should have silenced all scrutiny or skepticism, with similar sentiments applying to the decision to hire Jose Fernandez as head coach.

Yet, not everything has worked out as envisioned for the Wings.

For much of the season, it has looked like the Wings signed Smith to one of the worst contracts in the league, as her acclimation to a new system, hampered by having to wear at face mask for much of the season, has been uninspiring. Ogunbowale also is not living up her “discount” deal; instead of bouncing back after a poor 2025 season, Arike’s production and efficiency have dipped further. Plus, it’s still tempting to imagine Olivia Miles on this team.

The juxtaposition of the two teams’ trajectories exposes thin line between disaster and delight in the WNBA.

If the basketball gods doled out luck a little differently here and there, the Sky could be on course for a top-four seed, with the Wings again desperately trying to avoid the bottom of the standings.

Or, the opposing fates of the Sky and Wings might have a simple explanation: Paige.

In basketball, stars are determinative.

Teams that employ a real 1A, an MVP-caliber killer and the elite of the elite can succeed even if everything else is imperfect. Such players paper over questionable decisions, render bad injury luck irrelevant and overcome other forms adversity through their star power.

Bueckers, if she hadn’t already, has ascended into that stratosphere.

And because of her, the Wings aren’t only favored to take their third win over the Sky this season, and win their fifth-straight overall, but also to keep soaring, all while the Sky keep falling.

What do you think? Are superstars the ultimate solve in the WNBA? Does Paige deserve the most credit for the Wings success? Or, do you see it differently?

And, after surveying the rest of the WNBA’s Sunday slate, what other true star to you expect to deliver for her squad? Fresh a 48-point win over the Phoenix Mercury, the third-largest in league history, it’s gotta be A’ja Wilson, once again, going into GOAT mode for Las Vegas Aces against the Indiana Fever (9 p.m. ET, Peacock).