Paige Bueckers opens up on adjusting to WNBA, Dallas Wings

It wasn’t quite the season Paige Bueckers expected when she was drafted first overall by the Dallas Wings. Although she won Rookie of the Year, was an All-Star starter, and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team, the team went just 10-34. And when she’s coming off a national championship at UConn, that can be a tough adjustment.

Bueckers stepped in and was immediately the team’s best player, which probably wasn’t what she thought would happen when finding out she’d be joining four-time All-Star and reigning All-Star Game MVP Arike Ogunbowale. But Ogunbowale put up career-worst numbers, leaving a lot of it on Bueckers’ shoulders.

Paige Bueckers spoke about struggling to adjust to the new situation while on “What Drives Winning” with Dillon Gabriel earlier in the week.

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“Yeah, it’s hard. I went from being the vet or the senior on the team to where everybody looked to me as the voice, as the leader,” Bueckers said. “To where I’m coming into a new organization with a lot of new coaching staff, mostly new team, new GM, and I’m a rookie. I’m learning every single day what it looks like to show up to work every day. Be an adult.”

And while she said “mostly new coach staff,” she didn’t mention just how new it was. Chris Koclanes was the head coach, and it was his first time being a head coach at any level, so it’s probably not really a surprise at just how badly they played this year.

Koclanes was fired after one season, so the Wings brought in Jose Fernandez this offseason to be the next head coach of the franchise. He was a finalist last year for the position before Koclanes got the job, and now he’ll be leading a player he coached against in college, and has probably gotten tips from her college coach, Geno Auriemma, since they’re good friends.

The challenge from here will be surrounding Bueckers with the best team possible. Last year’s roster wasn’t good enough for a superstar like Bueckers, and had a lot of younger players consistently in the lineup with her that probably weren’t ready for major minutes.

The Wings will have a lot of open cap space this offseason; the number will just depend on the CBA agreement. They’ll also have the first overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, which they can use to find another young star to pair with Bueckers.

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