Paige Bueckers showed why she holds keys to Dallas Wings’ season in win over Indiana Fever

The result of every move over the last 13 months was on full display Saturday, and the early grade passed with top marks. Bueckers finished with 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and just one turnover.

“She’s special,” Fernandez said. “She reads how she’s being guarded. Having coached against her and seeing her now, I mean, she sees things two, three times ahead of stuff. That’s remarkable.”

Bueckers is fresh off a busy offseason that included her first season playing with Unrivaled (the professional 3×3 league) and with Team USA’s senior national team.

Individually, she committed to bulking up in an effort to withstand the toll of a 44-game WNBA season, the results of which are apparent in her noticeably stronger frame. Bueckers said she lived in the weightroom, ate better and even prioritized better sleep.

One area of Buecker’s development that can’t be visibly measured is her leadership.

“She’s one of those generational talents that not only shows up on the court, but off,” Smith said. “She leads by example. She holds herself to a certain standard, which I think is really important for people in leadership positions. You gotta walk the walk to talk the talk. That’s something she naturally does, which is really rare for a young player to do.”

Beyond Smith, Bueckers has garnered the respect of a team full of WNBA veterans, including Ogunbowale, who for six seasons shouldered the weight of the Wings’ expectations.

“We just got to have our hands up, because we know she’s going to make the right read,” Ogunbowale said. “She’s super efficient every night. … She’s just really elite.”

The Wings entered the 2026 season with lofty expectations surrounding them. At minimum, they’re widely predicted to get back to the playoffs. But at the peak of possibilities for the Wings is title contention.

Bueckers holds the keys.

“I’m not one to live in the past,” Bueckers said. “But I’m not sure how long it was until we got our first win last year, and three counting the preseason. It’s not to say get complacent, or oh, we got one win, we’re going to go 44-0. We’re so focused on winning the day, winning the practice and getting better every single day, which leads to wins in total.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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