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Paige Bueckers missed Sunday’s contest against the Las Vegas Aces, but the presumed WNBA Rookie of the Year is set to go against the league’s defending champions Monday night. Though her Dallas Wings are sizable home underdogs against Sabrina Ionescu and the New York Liberty, every primetime Bueckers broadcast commands our attention and previews a gleaming future.
How to watch New York Liberty at Dallas Wings
Venue: College Park Center — Arlington, Texas
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Time: 8 p.m. ET, Monday
TV: ESPN
Streaming: Fubo ($20 off)
Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.
At 7-19, this current version of Dallas is not much more than a first chapter in the Bueckers bildungsroman. The Wings have dropped six of their last seven games; they were thumped by a full 30 points in their July 7 loss to the Phoenix Mercury, and just took a 26-point L to Vegas on Sunday. Tough stuff, for sure, but the salvation here is in Bueckers’ immediate translation to the pro pace. Across her last 16 games, the No. 1 pick is averaging a shade below 20 points on 47.2/32.8/85.9 shooting splits. She’s also putting up 5.4 assists per game to 2.4 turnovers and 1.8 steals in that span. She’s getting the most out of a struggling transition offense and is finding her way through screens, all while retaining the galactic range that made her a college sensation:
Dallas’ other scoring options are three-time All-WNBA vet Arike Ogunbowale (16 points per game) and defensive specialist DiJonai Carrington (11 ppg). Both guards are shooting below 40 percent from the field, though, and the squad overall is in the league’s bottom three for 2-point and 3-point percentages.
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All that should present a clean get-right game for the Liberty, who arrive in Texas with a 17-7 record and the second-best net rating (the Minnesota Lynx are No. 1). New York plays with the W’s fastest pace, tallying more than 80 possessions per 40 minutes. After a June lull, the Liberty had strung together five consecutive wins … before Rickea Jackson’s game-winner sealed a Los Angeles Sparks upset over the weekend.
No matter. Brooklyn’s seafoam ballers are a two-way force. They are comfortably perched atop the Eastern Conference, where only two other teams are above .500 (the upstart Atlanta Dream and the injury-plagued Indiana Fever). With European star and 2019 Finals MVP Emma Meesseman ready to join the Liberty for the summer stretch, 2024’s title-holders look just as formidable as they did last year.
Crucially, New York’s top-line forward Breanna Stewart hurt her leg in Saturday’s loss, but she seems to have avoided serious damage. Stewart will ice up as her capable teammates cruise through the early August stretch of their schedule. The Liberty still field Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, Natasha Cloud and a bevy of reliable perimeter shooters.
Fusion team of players to wear both jerseys
Katie Smith
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Kayla Thornton
Swin Cash
Plenette Pierson
Natasha Howard
Sixth Woman — Isabelle Harrison
Liberty at Wings odds
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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