SEATTLE — Paige Bueckers called the Dallas Wings’ turnaround “insane” in a postgame interview with USA Sports after a 103-91 win over the Seattle Storm on Wednesday night. The win in the regular-season finale left Dallas at 27-17.
The Wings went 10-34 in 2025, when Bueckers was a rookie. The team said the 17-win improvement is the largest single-season turnaround in WNBA history. According to the team, Wings coach José Fernández also holds the league record for the biggest turnaround by a first-year head coach.
Bueckers scored 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting with 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in the win. She made all 6 of her free throws. It was her 26th game this season with at least 20 points.
Paige Bueckers Reflects On Going From 10 Wins To 27
Bueckers won Rookie of the Year and made the All-WNBA Second Team in 2025 while Dallas tied for the worst record in the league. She said Wednesday that she has not yet taken time to look back on this season and expects to do that once it is over.
“That’s, I mean, yeah, funny to think about because I haven’t even thought about all that we accomplished and all that we did throughout the regular season because, I mean, that’s life,” Bueckers said. “You’re so future-forward focused. It’s always the next thing. So it’s hard sometimes to not stop and smell the roses, but to be able to do what we did as a team this year as an organization, the turnaround was insane. I don’t know if it was historical, but to be where we were last year where we won 10 games and I was down bad, I love coming to work.”
“I love my teammates. I love being here in Dallas, but I love to win and I hate losing with a passion,” Bueckers continued. “But to be steady and even-keeled and remain who I am consistently and who we are, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the outcomes, to be able to be on the other side of it and win, you just don’t want to take that for granted and think that you’re entitled to anything.”
“So we’re hungry. We’re not satisfied and we’re not complacent with what we’ve accomplished,” Bueckers noted. “We want to continue to keep getting better for right now and for the future. But I’m sure I’ll do more reflecting after the season.”
The previous turnaround record belonged to the same franchise. The 2003 Detroit Shock went 25-9 after a 9-23 season in 2002, a 16-win improvement, and won the WNBA championship. Those 25 wins stood as the franchise record until Dallas broke it Sept. 19 against the Phoenix Mercury.
Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings Head Into Playoffs As The No. 7 Seed
Bueckers finished the regular season with 878 points, breaking Arike Ogunbowale’s franchise single-season record of 849 from 2023. She also set the franchise single-season assists record Aug. 20. Her 1,570 career points are the most by any player through her first two WNBA seasons, a mark she took from Seimone Augustus on Sept. 19.
Entering Wednesday, she averaged 20.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists while shooting 51% from the field and 40.9% from 3-point range.
Fernández said after the finale that Bueckers sometimes defers to teammates, which he called a credit to who she is. He coached South Florida from 2000 to 2025 before Dallas hired him Oct. 28, 2025.
“Us as a mid-major, we were always an 8-9 seed or a 7-10,” Fernández said. “You’ve got to play that, you win that first game, that you’re playing a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed, which sometimes it’s very, very difficult.”
“I think Paige has an unbelievable trust in her teammates, and sometimes she’s too unselfish, right?” Fernández added. “But that’s just a credit to who she is. But I think she has a huge understanding of what’s needed of her and being able to close out games. And I think she’s special in that point, making people around her better. Sometimes she defers, but that doesn’t take away her wanting to take a shot or her wanting to have the ball in her hands.”
Dallas is in the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Wings open a best-of-three first-round series Sunday on the road against the No. 2 seed, either the Golden State Valkyries or the Las Vegas Aces. That spot is decided Thursday night, when Golden State plays at the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas plays at Phoenix. Tip-off for both games is set for 9 p.m. CT.
