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Paige Bueckers’ Coach Assigns Blame for Disappointing Start to WNBA Season originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Dallas Wings had some hope that they would be at least somewhat competitive this season after they went a dismal 9-31 last year.
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However, a few weeks into the 2025 WNBA season, they find themselves with a 1-8 record after falling to the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday by a final score of 93-79.
Granted, guard Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, has been out for the last three games after being placed in concussion protocol. But the Wings were already struggling beforehand.
Head coach Chris Koclanes appears to have taken some accountability for the team’s poor play by saying that he and his staff haven’t gotten the job done in one area, per Joey Mistretta.
“Wings HC Chris Koclanes said he and his coaching staff have done a ‘poor’ job of organizing rotations and gameplans to begin the 2025 season,” Mistretta wrote on X.
Koclanes is in his first season as a WNBA head coach. He had previously been an assistant coach for the Sparks and Connecticut Sun, as well as an assistant for the USC Trojans.
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The Wings are in the midst of a rebuilding process, so some pain should be expected in the meantime while they look to develop Bueckers. However, fans are understandably impatient and looking for some sort of measurable progress.
Bueckers was a big star at UConn, and she led the school to the women’s NCAA championship just a couple of months ago. She is averaging 14.7 points and 6.7 assists a game so far this season.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers© Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
The Wings have finished with a winning record just once in the last nine seasons, and they have won just one playoff series since 2009, back when they were known as the Detroit Shock.
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Related: Paige Bueckers’ Coach Delivers Blunt Response on Disappointing Season
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
