The WNBA season doesn’t kick off till mid-May, but this week’s draft has fans in Texas raring to go.
With the No. 1 draft pick, the Dallas Wings landed star University of Connecticut point guard Paige Bueckers. As Dallas Morning News reporter Myah Taylor put it, Bueckers’ calm, humble demeanor shines through as the Wings set the stage for their newest star.
Taylor joined the Standard with more about what’s to come as the UConn standout heads to North Texas.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Many WNBA fans are all eyes on the Dallas Wings right now. How excited is the city that Paige Bueckers is coming to Dallas?
Myah Taylor: Oh, I think they’re absolutely thrilled. I was over in New York where the draft was happening, but I know in Arlington they had a huge watch party and it was sold out.
Everybody was going crazy. I think especially with Luka Doncic having left the Mavs, it kind of feels like Paige Bueckers arriving is helping the city have a basketball star again. So everyone’s very excited.
Well, the franchise, of course, got the No. 1 pick this year because they’ve been struggling. Talking to reporters on Monday after the draft, Bueckers said:
“There’s new levels of standards that are going to be set in play. And there’s a new GM, there’s new coach, new assistant coach, a whole new team. So we’re excited for that new fresh start.
“It’s not a rebuild. It’s just a build from where we are. And excited for the new arena, the new practice facility, and conversations with the CEO, the GM. We’re excited the future. And we only think the best is ahead.”
Tell us about this fresh start. What does that look like from your perspective?
Yeah, so even before the Wings won the draft lottery in November, they had already kind of been pretty adamant about just taking the franchise to new heights.
And that kind of started with the announcement last April that they’d be moving to downtown Dallas. Currently, they play at UT Arlington’s arena, but they’ll be moving downtown into a renovated arena. So that was a huge milestone for them.
They cleaned house in terms of their front office: They got a new head coach, new general manager. And then they went out in free agency and they have really built a roster that will surround Paige. So she won’t really have to carry the team or anything like that.
And then of course, she wasn’t their only draft pick and so they’ll have other options there. But from my understanding, even before they secured this pick, they were really trying to just take the Wings into the future.
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Well, of course, we have to ask – or I guess compare – this year’s draft excitement to last year. In 2024 the Indiana Fever drafted Caitlin Clark from Iowa as the No. 1 pick, and since then the Fever have gained much larger crowds at home and away. Do you get a sense that Dallas could experience the same thing?
Oh, I definitely think so. You know, there’s been a lot of comparisons between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. And, you know, I think that the folks at the Wings understand that it’s not quite the same phenomenon that that was.
But as the CEO and President Greg Bibb said, she will move the needle. So 100% I think people are gonna be paying a lot more attention to the Wings now.
Paige Bueckers has I think 2.3 million Instagram followers and that was before she even got to Dallas. That’s more than like Dak Prescott, the Cowboys quarterback, has. So she definitely has a big audience. A lot of people are really excited about her. So I think we’re gonna be hearing a lot more about the Wings.
As the new Wings beat reporter, what else makes you excited about this team going into the 2025 season?
Honestly, I’m just really excited to see them getting more attention. That’s what I think is really cool.
And I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to see this, just seeing an organization grow the way that it is – and not just in securing a player like Paige, but seeing them grow on the business side and seeing all the things that they’re doing to try to get their product out there. And so I’m excited to how that looks for them.
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I’m like looking ahead already. I’m starting to Google, when are the Fever and the Wings going to face off? Is this going to be a big deal?
Yeah, that should be a really big deal. They’re going to be playing June 27 at American Airlines Center, home of the Mavericks. That’ll be the first time that the Wings play outside of their home arena. And so that should be a huge matchup.
From what I’ve heard, the tickets are already pretty expensive. It’ll feature the last two No. 1 overall picks in the WNBA draft. So definitely a marquee event.
