The Dallas Wings are turning the Paige.
The long-struggling WNBA franchise is going through wholesale changes, which some credit to the possible arrival of Bueckers, the presumptive No. 1 pick in next week’s draft.
Team executives say the organization has been working to reposition itself for years.
“When I look at things now, I really feel like there’s this false narrative around Dallas,” Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb told Front Office Sports.
But narratives don’t spring out of nowhere. The Wings have been mediocre or worse for most of the last decade.
In the nine seasons since the franchise relocated to Dallas—evolving from the Tulsa Shock to the Wings—it has finished above .500 or advanced to the second round of the playoffs just once, in 2023.
In 2024, the Wings won nine games and subsequently fired coach Latricia Trammell.
Over the years, multiple stars have requested trades, including Liz Cambage, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Allisha Gray, and Marina Mabrey. Most recently, it was Satou Sabally whom the Wings were forced to trade to the Phoenix Mercury in a four-team deal in January. Cambage cited personal reasons in a Players’ Tribune article detailing her desire to play elsewhere. “Once Fred [Williams] got fired, I knew that my support there was gone — and that the only way I could stay in the league would be if I were living near my family on the West Coast,” Cambage wrote. Diggins-Smith spoke about a lack of support from the organization during her first pregnancy.
Perhaps driven by all the losing and stars forcing their way out of town, rumors have swirled that Bueckers would, one way or another, try to avoid playing for the Wings.
Several WNBA sources have downplayed the idea to FOS. Those same sources have indicated there was interest expressed in trading for the No. 1 pick in the immediate days and weeks that followed the draft lottery in November, but those incoming calls have almost completely dried up in recent months—indicating, perhaps, that no team feels it has the leverage to pry Bueckers away from Dallas.
If she does end up signing a four-year, $348,000 deal with the Wings, it would complete a franchise overhaul years in the making. The one star who has stuck around in Dallas is Arike Ogunbowale.
“I woke up feeling like a traitor cause I was really clapping when a certain team scored,” she posted following the NCAA championship Sunday. “Anyway, go Wings lol. Can’t wait for the draft. Wings y’all know what to do.” Ogunbowale has been hinting Bueckers would be a Wing for weeks; when the guard said last month that she was entering the draft, Ogunbowale tweeted, “i thought the plan was to travel the world & make tik toks?!”
Ogunbowale’s loyalty to the Wings has been an indication since the team drafted her with the fifth overall pick in 2019 that the franchise is committed to being among the upper echelon.
“I remember last season when they announced [plans for a new arena and practice facility] she looked at me and said, ‘Are you buying a house in Dallas?’” Trammell told FOS.
“I said, ‘Are you?’ and she goes, ‘Yeah. I’m going to have to buy one downtown.’”
Despite Ogunbowale’s real estate commitment, with nearly every WNBA veteran set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026, how the Wings fare in 2025 will certainly test her allegiance—and their ability to attract a supporting cast for what they hope is an Ogunbowale-Bueckers backcourt.
“She has had opportunities through her service time in the league to explore other options,” Bibb said. “She has never once considered it. What the future holds beyond this year for her and everybody else, who knows. But I believe she is committed long-term to Dallas. We certainly want to be committed long-term to her,” he said.
“I hope ultimately when that day comes and we are raising a trophy, she’s the one doing it.”
In 2024, the Wings brought in two new investors, Grizzlies minority owner Jed Kaplan and hedge fund founder Randy Eisenman, for 0.5% stakes valued at $1.04 million each. As a result the Wings’ valuation jumped to $208 million—far more than any WNBA team had ever sold for and making the franchise the league’s most valuable on paper for a time. Rock Entertainment Group, owned by Cleveland Cavaliers chairman Dan Gilbert, made a reported $250 million bid for the WNBA’s 16th franchise in February.
Bibb didn’t get into the team’s financial specifics when asked whether the Wings were still operating at a loss, but he said they are a “healthier and more robust business today than they’ve ever been.”
Before the 1% ownership stake sale, Bibb was in years-long talks with the city of Dallas to find the team a new home within the city’s limits, admitting that the Wings have outgrown College Park Stadium, which holds just over 6,000 fans.
In 2024, the Wings averaged a 95% capacity crowd, and they’ve sold out their season-ticket inventory for two straight seasons; 2025 season tickets sold out in November. But the tiny arena means that Dallas consistently ranks at or near the bottom of WNBA attendance. Their 5,910 average home attendance was second worst in 2024, beating the Atlanta Dream who averaged 4,734. In 2024 only half the league had an average home attendance of more than 10,000 fans. The Indiana Fever led the league with an average attendance of 17,035; they play in an arena they share with the NBA’s Pacers.
Like much of the league, the Wings will be capitalizing on the Caitlin Clark Effect, moving a June 27 home game to the 20,000-seat American Airlines Arena; Bibb says the team will be able to play another game there in 2026.
The city of Dallas is footing the bill on the Wings’ $54 million practice facility, which will be next door to the team’s newly renovated arena that is part of a downtown convention center. Those $200 million renovations are also being paid for by the city, along with a $19 million incentive for the team to make the move. The $19 million comes with a 15-year agreement with the city for the Wings to play at the Convention Center.
What happens if the Wings’ attendance growth surpasses their new arena before the 15-year agreement is up?
“That will be a great problem to have,” Bibb said. “Let’s hope that’s the case. But right now we play in a stadium that’s 6,251 seats. The final design of Memorial Auditorium is not complete. It will be somewhere between 8,500 and 9,000 seats. So you’re talking about 2,500 to 3,000 extra seats. If we fill that, we will certainly work with the city and try to find a solution. As our partner, I’m sure they will want what’s best for us because ultimately that’s what’s best for the city.”
With Ogunbowale and a new front office, there is a clear path forward—one that becomes much clearer if Bueckers comes to town. Last year, Bibb hired Curt Miller as executive vice president and general manager; Miller then hired Chris Koclanes as his new head coach. Miller won the league’s inaugural Executive of the Year award in 2017, with the Sun while also being named the Coach of the Year that same season. He led the franchise to six straight postseason appearances, including four consecutive semifinals and two trips to the Finals.
Miller has already made waves in Dallas acquiring a haul for Sabally, which included guard DiJonai Carrington from the Sun, forward NaLyssa Smith from the Fever, and the 12th overall pick in the 2025 draft. In five days he will have a chance to change the trajectory of the Wings forever by drafting Bueckers.
When asked about the rumors at the Final Four, Bueckers said there is “nowhere specific” she’d like to play, adding “wherever I end up” is fine with her. The Wings, however, had not been in communication with Bueckers or her team before UConn’s 12th national championship win Sunday.
One individual who would have been an easy connection to Bueckers without disrupting her tournament play is UConn coach Geno Auriemma. He gave FOS a candid response when asked whether he had heard from the Wings this season.
“No,” Auriemma said. “I have not. Some GMs during the course of these last 20 years will contact me to talk about players. Coaches will as well. They’ll come to practice. They’ll come to games. Struck up a relationship with a bunch of them, and some I couldn’t pick ’em out of a lineup and they draft my players and don’t even ask me anything about the kids. So, I know that kid won’t be there long. So, I don’t worry about it.”
