“There’s nowhere I’d rather be,” Bueckers said. “Battled some stuff, glad to be back. Excited to keep building, get back on the court.”
The rookie guard will return to the court Wednesday night against the Phoenix Mercury after a four-game absence that forced her to confront one of the most difficult transitions of her young professional career.
“There’s no better medicine than rest,” Bueckers said. “Getting sick wasn’t ideal, but just to give your body a little bit of break. I know the turnaround was fast from the college season to here … but you try to look at the positives of everything that happened to you. So to be able to get a little bit of downtime, I think it did wonders for my body.”
That enforced downtime — first due to a concussion, then an illness — allowed Bueckers not only to recover physically, but also to reflect on her new role as a leader in Dallas’ evolving system.
“Just a lot of stuff that happens in the game we can control, and sometimes I feel like we’re our biggest opponent in terms of stuff that we can do to contribute to winning,” Bueckers said. “So just coming back, having that perspective on how we can change things — and it’s just little things that we can clean up. Specifically, like turnovers, vision, and transition defense are a few things. But just looking at how much, internally, we’re hurting ourselves. So it’s definitely stuff that’s fixable.”
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Paige Bueckers is back in command
The Wings went 0-4 during Bueckers’ absence and enter Wednesday’s contest at a league-worst 1-9. They are looking to rebound from an 81-65 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, a game in which Arike Ogunbowale scored 26 points and Maddy Siegrist recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“She’s been working behind the scenes, so she’s good to go and we’ll be all set for tomorrow,” coach Chris Koclanes told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “She just makes everybody around her better. So we’re excited that she’s back with us.”
Bueckers, averaging 14.7 points and 6.7 assists through six WNBA games, has already proven to be a primary playmaker for the Wings when healthy. With backup point guard Tyasha Harris ruled out for the season after undergoing knee surgery, keeping Bueckers on the floor is all the more vital.
Koclanes envisions an offense that flows through Bueckers’ decision-making — an approach he’s emphasized since training camp. That orchestration was on display the last time Bueckers played, when she scored 15 points, dished eight assists, grabbed six rebounds, recorded three steals, and blocked three shots in a narrow loss to the Sky. With Ogunbowale’s last performance with Bueckers being a 37-point heater against Chicago, the offense will look to pick up where it left off.
“She’s gonna have the ball in her hands, and she’s gonna be in a lot of primary actions as the first facilitator,” Koclanes told The Next. “And nine times out of 10, she’s gonna make the right read. That’s where she makes the first read, now we have the defense scrambling, we’re creating closeouts, and now everybody else is attacking or shooting. It just puts them — it puts them in more comfortable and easier situations to now exploit the defense.”
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Patience and process
For Koclanes, the goal is to help the Wings string together more complete performances — not just flashes of sharp execution, but full games built on consistency and connected effort. Throughout the first stretch of the season, Dallas has shown the ability to compete for stretches, but lapses in execution have prevented the team from closing out games.
“We can compete. We’ve been competing in lots of stretches — we just haven’t been able to put 40 minutes together,” Koclanes said. “But as this season continues and our roles and the clarity comes with how we play with one another, which is happening, everyone is just going to get more comfortable and more confident.”
Veteran guard DiJonai Carrington stressed that the team’s growth will require full buy-in. With so many new faces and shifting lineups, Carrington said the Wings understand that developing chemistry is an ongoing process — one that can’t be shortcut or carried by any one player.
“That’s what basketball is about. We have to play together. No one person, no two people, can win a game for us,” Carrington said. “We’re all trying to see our season turnaround, so we just have to lock in on the things that we need to do to do that.”
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Challenge in Phoenix
The Wings’ immediate task will not be easy. Phoenix expects to welcome Alyssa Thomas and Natasha Mack back to the lineup Wednesday, while Kahleah Copper remains out.
“Phoenix — lots of rookies. We’ll see who’s back for them tomorrow, but they’ve been playing really well,” Koclanes said. “Shoot a ton of threes. Satou [Sabally] is playing well. So yeah, we’ll have our work cut out for us there.”
Sabally’s versatility will be a particular challenge. The former Wings forward has thrived in a prominent role for Phoenix, often functioning as a point-forward who can initiate offense, stretch the floor, and attack mismatches. In recent games, Sabally has shifted to playing at the five, allowing the Mercury to play with pace and spacing while forcing opposing bigs to defend in unfamiliar areas of the court.
“She’s technically starting at the five for them here in these last couple games, and she’s bringing the ball up almost half the time,” Koclanes said. “She can beat you in a ton of different ways. It’s going to be a team effort to slow her down.”
For Bueckers, the trip to Phoenix carries added meaning — an opportunity to take the floor where one of her basketball idols, Diana Taurasi, built her WNBA legacy.
“That’s the house that DT built, Bueckers said. “I’ve been looking up to her since I was young, so it’ll be crazy to be in that environment and see all the people and the place she impacted. I’m so excited to be out there.”
Tipoff at Footprint Center involving the Wings and Mercury is scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, at 10 p.m. ET.
