The WNBA is in the offseason, but teams are busy signing free agents, making trades, firing and hiring new coaches – and all that’s making big headlines in the lead-up to the 2025 season.
ESPN reporter Alexa Philippou joined Texas Standard to help us break down the latest.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Now, naturally, being in Texas, we want to focus on the Dallas Wings, Texas’ only WNBA team – so far; I have my hopes.
But first, I want to ask about the overall interest in the WNBA. There certainly seem to be more eyes on the game, a whole lot more coverage. How do you think the game or the league has evolved in recent months and years?
Alexa Philippou: Well, when I first started covering women’s basketball nationally full time, I definitely noticed more and more interest in the sport, in college and WNBA.
But it really has felt like over the last year and a half to two years, starting with that 2023 Final Four between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, that the growth in the sport really just took this, you know, exponential trajectory and that things have really been on such an exciting path from there.
And we’ve seen that in the college game and then obviously translate to the WNBA this season when those two players in particular made it to the pros. And even though they weren’t in the finals, even, we saw some of the best viewership we’ve seen in decades to the finals. So many different metrics you could point to about showing that the interest has never been higher.
I think the casual sports fan is more engaged and more knowledgeable about the WNBA than ever before. So even though it might have been spurred by that one moment with some of those rookies or, you know, a player like Caitlin Clark, who’s obviously a generational talent, I think it’s really kind of been like a rising tide lifts all boats and now the whole league is seeing this tremendous moment of excitement and growth and popularity.
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What can you tell us about the new head coach of the Dallas Wings, Chris Koclanes?
Well, Chris Koclanes has been in the WNBA circles for a while. He had a little bit of a break because he was an assistant coach at USC, where he was helping coach JuJu Watkins, who, of course, is a star in her own right.
But Chris Koclanes, he actually started in the league in Connecticut, which is where he was working under current Wings general manager Curt Miller. So he worked his way up into Curt Miller’s staff in Connecticut, then he followed Curt Miller to Los Angeles and had a small stint there before leaving for USC. So he’s a really well-respected coach around the league.
One of the things he’s known for is having more of a defensive-minded approach to the game, and that’s something the Wings desperately need. Defense has been really one of their weaknesses for years. And it isn’t really even tied to one coach. So that’s something that as a franchise, as an organization, they want to take obviously more seriously by this hire.
But I think Koclanes is well respected by various stars in the league. When he was hired, you saw different people who had worked with him and at the Sparks or with the Sun, even some of his USC players that were publicly saying how great of an experience they had working with him and he’ll make a really good coach. I think there’s some early optimism that he’ll be a really good fit for Dallas.
I want to touch on the fact that we won’t see rookie Jacy Sheldon or veteran Satou Sabally on the lineup for the Wings this year. The WNBA draft isn’t until April, but what are you going to be looking for in the meantime? And what about drafting?
Yeah, so the Wings have a little bit of a roster turnover, but they got some really interesting pieces in return. They brought in DiJonai Carrington, who was the most improved player last year. They brought in a really great point guard, Ty Harris, have signed Myisha Hines-Allen.
So even though they have some players on the way out – I should say, NaLyssa Smith, too, was a No. 2 pick a few years ago in the draft, and she’s coming in as well – but they also have the No. 1 overall pick, and that’s expected to be Paige Bueckers out of UConn.
So if they’re able to get her in the draft – or even, you know, there’s some college eligibility question marks there, if Paige decides that she wants to return to college – there’s talented players; Olivia Miles is one that comes to mind out of Notre Dame, another really talented guard.
So I think the Wings are really excited to have that pick, and hopefully that could be a cornerstone to their franchise moving forward alongside these players that they just brought in in free agency.
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I’ve got to ask: Any projections on the Wings’ chances in 2025?
I think if things go right, they could definitely make it back to the playoffs. I think that’s like a really good baseline for them to build off of. And then everyone’s basically a free agent 2026, and that’s a whole other conversation we’ll have to have.
But they have a lot of good things moving their way with the practice facility coming and the move to Dallas. So I think they’re going to really try and continue to build off that momentum moving forward.
