Holding a 9-24 record, the Dallas Wings are no longer in the hunt for the playoffs and are instead eyeing a top lottery pick. The early buzz surrounding the trio of Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, and DiJonai Carrington faded quickly as the team struggled to gain momentum, ultimately becoming one of the league’s least competitive squads.
Still, securing another lottery selection isn’t necessarily a bad outcome. With Bueckers already in the fold, adding another young talent could significantly boost the Wings’ long-term potential.
While Dallas won’t be battling for a postseason berth, they could play spoiler in the tightly packed playoff race, where a single loss could determine who gets in and who’s left out. ESPN even pegged the Wings derailing another team’s playoff push as one of their bold predictions for the stretch run. Given Dallas’ track record of knocking off playoff contenders, that prediction doesn’t seem far-fetched.
The Wings have beaten good teams before
Dallas may only have nine wins, but several of those victories were statement games that highlighted the team’s upside. Remarkably, six of those wins came against teams currently in playoff position.
The Wings took down the Golden State Valkyries, Atlanta Dream, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, New York Liberty, and Indiana Fever. Their triumph over New York stands out as perhaps their most impressive outing of the year. Dallas exploded for more than 60 points in the first half and, despite a shaky fourth quarter, held off a Liberty rally. Arike Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers each poured in 20 points, with Ogunbowale also handing out a career-high 14 assists.
By consistently knocking off playoff-caliber opponents, the Wings have shown they can rise to the occasion. If they keep that up in the season’s final stretch, they could very well derail a contender’s postseason bid.
Dallas still has several games left against playoff hopefuls
Minnesota is the only team that has clearly separated itself from the pack, but the Dream, Liberty, and Mercury also appear firmly entrenched in the top four—though the Mercury’s one-game lead over the Aces leaves them vulnerable to slipping in the standings.
The bottom half of the playoff picture is far less certain, with the Aces, Fever, Valkyries, Storm, and Sparks battling for just four spots. Las Vegas has shown significant improvement since the start of the season but still needs to prove it can sustain that level. Indiana, meanwhile, just lost both of its point guards to season-ending injuries and recently fell in a tight contest to Dallas. Golden State is without its lone All-Star, Seattle is mired in a six-game losing streak, and Los Angeles is still trying to dig itself out from a poor start.
Dallas’ remaining schedule includes three matchups with the Sparks, two with Golden State, and one each against Las Vegas, Seattle, and Phoenix. With so many of those opponents fighting for postseason survival, the Wings could have a major hand in shaping the final playoff picture.
