Dallas Wings vs. Atlanta Dream Preview: The Last Chance To Avoid A Season-Series Sweep

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings host the Atlanta Dream on Wednesday in the last scheduled meeting between the teams this season. Atlanta has won the first two.

The Dream won 77-72 in Arlington on May 12. Three weeks later, they won again at home, 86-69. Those were the second and sixth games of Dallas’ season. Wednesday will be the 28th.

Atlanta leads the all-time series 31-20. Dallas hasn’t won a meeting since July 24, 2025.

Tip-off is 7:00 p.m. CT at College Park Center, in front of a sold-out crowd. USA Network has the game nationally. KFAA and Victory+ carry it locally.

Where Both Teams Stand

Dallas is 18-9. The Wings went 7-1 in July and have won seven of their last eight. They average 90.2 points a game and shoot 46.5% from the field.

Their franchise-record six-game winning streak ended July 20 in a 99-98 overtime loss to the New York Liberty at College Park Center. Two nights later, they closed the first half with a 101-97 win at the Portland Fire. Jessica Shepard had 18 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in that one, the fourth triple-double of her season and the fifth of her career.

Atlanta comes in at 16-10. The Dream have won three of their last four after dropping five straight, and injuries have reshaped their rotation.

Their last game before the break was a 93-91 win over the Chicago Sky on July 19. Allisha Gray scored 29. Jordin Canada hit the go-ahead layup as the clock expired.

Second-year guard Aziaha James was asked at shootaround what changes in the third meeting.

“I think just taking from the other two last games our mistakes and correcting them,” James said. “I feel like we’ve been doing good just coming back from All-Star break, having our two practices. So just dialing in on the details and what coach is saying, and yeah, let’s get the win.”

What Happened In The First Two Meetings

Dallas led the May 12 game at College Park Center 21-19 after one quarter and 59-58 after three. The Wings scored 13 points in the fourth and lost 77-72.

Atlanta pulled down 44 rebounds that night to Dallas’ 34, including 11 offensive rebounds to the Wings’ 7. The Dream turned that into a 16-12 edge in second-chance points. Dallas shot 4-of-26 from three.

Gray scored 26 in that game on 9-of-20 shooting. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 20. Azzi Fudd missed it with a right knee injury.

Ten days later in Atlanta, Dallas trailed 19-9 after one quarter and by as many as 19. The Wings cut it to five with a 27-19 third, then scored 11 points in the fourth and lost 86-69.

Atlanta shot 54.8% from the field in that game. Rhyne Howard had 25 points, 8 assists, and 4 steals, and went 9-of-9 at the line. Ogunbowale went 1-of-11 and finished at minus-27.

The offensive glass flipped in the second meeting. Dallas grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to Atlanta’s 5.

Across the two games, Atlanta outscored Dallas 42-24 in the fourth quarter.

Dallas averaged 70.5 points in the series, nearly 20 below its season mark. The Wings shot 38.1% from the field and 20.4% from three. Atlanta averaged 81.5 points on 45.8% shooting and went 28-of-30 at the free-throw line to Dallas’ 18-of-26.

Paige Bueckers averaged 11.0 points on 32.0% shooting in the two meetings, with 5.0 assists and a minus-16.0 rating. She’s at 20.9 points on 51.3% for the season.

Awak Kuier was the exception. She went 6-of-6 for 16 points in Atlanta and was plus-8.5 across the series, the only Dallas player in the group above plus-5. Odyssey Sims scored 14 in that same game on 5-of-6 shooting.

The Offensive Glass

Angel Reese had 16 rebounds in the May 12 game in Arlington. Eight came on the offensive end, one more than the entire Dallas team managed that night. She finished with 12 points.

Reese averaged 12.5 rebounds across the two meetings and scored 13.5 a game on 57.9% shooting. She has 126 offensive rebounds on the season, and nobody else in the WNBA has 90.

Kuier was asked Wednesday what Dallas has to do differently on the boards.

“I just feel like (we need to be) putting more attention to rebounding in general,” Kuier said. “Angel is really good at it. So just working early, knowing that she’s good at it and just being prepared for it.”

Wings coach Jose Fernandez brought up the glass on both practice days.

“The last game we lost here at home, we lost it on the glass, not on the offensive end,” Fernandez said Tuesday. “Atlanta dominated us on the offensive glass here. That’s going to be a huge key tomorrow.”

He was asked what makes Reese difficult in particular.

“That’s the challenge. She’s physical,” Fernandez said. “The really elite offensive rebounders want to go get it off the glass. You’ve got to stay active, keep a body on her, force her out, and then come over the top to secure the rebound.”

Shepard leads the WNBA at 12.0 rebounds a game and pulls down 8.7 on the defensive end. She’s had a double-double in seven straight games, the longest streak in the league this season. Kuier averages 1.2 blocks in 16.8 minutes.

Atlanta has size behind Reese. Naz Hillmon played 35.6 minutes a game against Dallas, more than any other Dream player, and was plus-12.5. Madina Okot grabbed 5.0 rebounds in 8.6 minutes a night in the two meetings.

Brionna Jones was out with a right knee injury for both meetings. She has played twice since returning, with 8.0 rebounds in 15.5 minutes.

General manager Curt Miller drafted Jones eighth overall for the Connecticut Sun in 2017.

“I’m obviously biased because I drafted Bri Jones, and I know how important she is to what Atlanta does,” Miller said Monday. “Having her back completely changes that team.”

Atlanta’s Backcourt

Gray leads the Dream at 19.1 points a game for the season. She spent the first six seasons of her career in Dallas before a 2023 trade to Atlanta. Howard is next at 17.6, and her 60 steals are the most in the WNBA. Canada has 199 assists, second in the league, and averages 7.7 a game.

Howard logs 34.8 minutes a night, more than anyone in the league. Gray is fourth at 33.0.

Bueckers spent two practice days on the scouting report.

“It’s tough because they’re all different,” Bueckers said Tuesday. “Obviously, [Allisha Gray] is a left-handed driver who gets downhill but can also shoot. [Rhyne Howard] is similar, right-handed, can shoot, but plays at her own pace. Jordin is a dynamic playmaker who can also score and really pushes the pace for them.”

James draws the point-of-attack assignment against that group. She had 2.5 steals a game in the two meetings, more than any other Dallas player.

“Just dialing in, trying to get the easy buckets or just getting us extra possessions,” she said. “Whether that’s rebounding, getting a steal, anything I can help my team with.”

Fernandez sees some of his own roster in the Atlanta backcourt.

“There are definitely similarities in terms of creativity off the bounce and their ability to stretch the floor with three-point shooting,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of factors that come into play because we’ve got three really good perimeter players ourselves. The big question is going to be how we defend their front line.”

What Dallas Brings Out Of The Break

Bueckers is averaging 20.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. She’s shooting 51.3% from the field, 39.7% from three, and 85.7% at the line. In each of her last five games, she’s had at least 15 points, four rebounds, and five assists, the longest active streak in the WNBA.

Fudd won the WNBA 3-Point Contest in Chicago on July 24, the first rookie in league history to do it. She has not faced Atlanta since the knee injury that kept her out in May. She averages 13.2 points and 1.7 steals, and she’s shooting 45.6% from three over her last five games.

Atlanta defends the perimeter well and switches screens to run shooters off the line.

“She’s a natural-born shooter,” James said of Fudd. “But she also has other capabilities in her game, like attacking downhill, finding the right people for other shots. She can do it all around.”

Ogunbowale is averaging 14.6 points and shoots 88.7% at the free-throw line. Shepard averages 14.9 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists on 59.7% shooting, and she and Bueckers both played in the All-Star Game on July 25.

Fernandez said Tuesday’s practice went the other way from the defensive work earlier in the week.

“We worked a lot on the offensive end today, special situations, which are crucial,” he said. “We spent time on sideline out-of-bounds, baseline out-of-bounds, free-throw block-outs, and coming out of timeouts and executing.”

Alanna Smith And The Rotation

Alanna Smith is listed as probable with a right leg injury. She practiced Monday and took part in the full session Tuesday.

“Yeah, she practiced the whole day,” Fernandez said. “Hopefully she gets through shootaround, and then we’ll hear from the medical staff about what she can and can’t do tomorrow.”

Smith averages 3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14.2 minutes across 20 games. She played both meetings with Atlanta and shot 18.2% in them. She’s been named to Australia’s final 12 for the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin from Sept. 4-13.

Dallas has used a changing frontcourt all season. Sims has appeared in 18 games since joining the rotation. Maddy Siegrist shoots 44.9% from three.

Fernandez was asked how the rotation looks from here.

“As you get closer to the end of the year and the playoffs, the rotation naturally shrinks,” he said. “A lot of it comes down to versatility, and sometimes it’s opponent-based as well. But as we get toward the end of the season, most teams are going to play eight or nine players.”

What Comes After

Wednesday starts a compressed stretch. Miller said Dallas plays six games in the first 12 days out of the break, and that eight of the first 10 come against teams currently in playoff position.

“Practice time is extremely limited,” Miller said. “It’s a very difficult stretch.”

The WNBA trade deadline falls Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CT. Dallas hosts the Connecticut Sun that same day at 6:00 p.m. CT.

Seventeen games remain.

“Regardless of what the next 17 games look like, we want to go game by game, possession by possession, and let the results take care of themselves,” Bueckers said.

Dallas and Atlanta tip off at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday at College Park Center. The game airs on USA Network, KFAA, and Victory+.