After taking the league by storm and winning the 2025 Rookie of the Year award, Paige Bueckers is not resting on her laurels. As the Dallas Wings gear up for a highly anticipated 2026 campaign, the franchise has been undergoing a transformation.
With a brand-new head coach at the helm and a revamped roster, Bueckers revealed that she is being urged to elevate her game beyond just box-score production.
Paige Bueckers Discusses the Dallas Wings’ New Era Under Jose Fernandez
Taking over for Dallas this season is Jose Fernandez, who made the leap to the pros after a successful 25-year stint at the University of South Florida. Fernandez is implementing a new offense around constant motion and ball movement.
For a versatile playmaker like Bueckers, who averaged 19.2 points and 5.4 assists during her rookie campaign, the system could prove to be an ideal fit.
However, the former South Florida Bulls coach has challenged his franchise cornerstone to take a massive leap in one specific area: her vocal leadership.
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During training camp, Bueckers opened up about discussions she had with Fernandez about her growing role as the face of the Dallas franchise.
“I think whatever the team needs to win on any given night. We have a new roster, a new offensive system, so just trying to find who I am in that and who I wanna be as a leader, as a teammate and making everybody around me better,” Bueckers explained.
“But everything for me and this team is geared towards winning in any given role… but to be more aggressive, to be more assertive, to be more of a leader, more vocal is something that we’ve talked about.”
Dallas has suffered through back-to-back disappointing seasons, entirely missing the WNBA playoffs in 2024 and 2025. The team posted a 9-31 record in 2024, followed by an equally frustrating 10-34 finish in 2025.
Ahead of the 2026 season, the front office aggressively retooled the roster to give Bueckers and Fernandez the pieces they need to win. Dallas picked Azzi Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Fudd led UConn to a thrilling national championship and earned first-team All-American honors as a senior. Drafting her reunites one of the most lethal offensive backcourts in college basketball history, as Fudd will join her former Huskies teammate, Bueckers.
If the rebuild is as successful as promised, the Wings could finally shed their reputation as the league’s punching bag and transform into genuine contenders.
