By Bill Ingram with Riley Ingram
Dallas, TX – No one wants their favorite team’s season to be determined by injuries, but sometimes it works out that way. The Dallas Mavericks suffered through much of last season without injured superstar Luka Doncic, who was then traded for another oft-injured star in Anthony Davis. Then they lost All-Star guard Kyrie Irving for the season, but there was a silver lining…they landed the top pick in the NBA draft and made Duke star Cooper Flagg a Maverick.
The Wings have had so many injuries this season that head coach Chris Koclanes and the team’s front office have had to bring in quite a few replacement players just to get through the schedule. They played without starting forward Matty Siegrist for a stretch early in the season, they lost Ty Harris to knee surgery back in June, but have also dealt with an onslaught of injuries to much of the lineup. Aziaha James (ankle), Haley Jones (right knee), Arike Ogunbowale (right knee), JJ Quinerly (ACL – left knee), Li Yueru (ACL – left knee) and now Luisa Geiselsoder have all gone down for extended periods, a few for the remainder of the season.
Through it all, the Wings have stayed competitive, with rookie superstar Paige Bueckers leading the way, but Coach Kochlanes admits the front office has had their work cut out for them.
“All credit to the front office,” says Koclanes. “I think they do a tremendous job of identifying talent, but also, beneath the talent, seeing if they’re a good culture fit. I appreciate that there’s so much collaboration between our front office and the coaching staff so that when we are talking about these player-personnel decisions we’re really trying to get a full picture of how they fit. I want everyone healthy and feeling good, but with injuries come opportunities for these players and we’ve been able to add some really tremendous women to our roster. I’m happy for them that they’ve seized all of these opportunities, and whether it’s here or somewhere else I’m happy that we’ve shown we can help people.”
Guard Haley Jones was one of the gems the front office found to give the team quality minutes before she, too, recently went down with a knee injury while having the best season of her career with Dallas.
“It’s hard to see teammates go down, but I think we’re going to do what we’ve been doing all year,” says Jones. “It’s next woman up. Nobody cares, it’s a team sport and people get hurt. We wish them the best recovery possible, but we’re still going to show up and play with everything we have to give.”
“I like to think they pick good pieces, I like to think I’m one of those, but I think it speaks to the culture in our locker room,” Jones continues. “It instills confidence and it lets you play your game because that’s why they brought you in. I think everyone who’s come in has done a really good job bringing something to the team. It takes good people off the court, as well. Coming in and being a good teammate matters. I know when I first came in I didn’t really touch the court the first two games, but it didn’t matter because I was being a good teammate and being what the team needed until my time came.”
The Wings took a long look at Kansas State product Serena Sundell during this year’s WNBA draft process before finding her available last week.
“I was super excited to get the call,” says Sundell, who just signed a second seven-day hardship contract with the Wings. “I’ve worked hard and waited a long time to get here, but the past 24 hours I’ve learned a lot and I’ve just tried to soak in everything I can and do my job for this team. I’m coming in to take care of the ball, make reads, find my spots. I’m one of the taller guards, so my ability to see the floor, execute the game plan and make the right reads should help me. My basketball IQ will help, my ability to find the players that are hot can help us win basketball games. I can also guard a lot of different players and put up a good fight no matter where I’m playing on the court.”
Another recent addition to the team is Amy Okonkwo, a TCU grad who has spent the last few seasons playing with the Nigerian National Team as well as a number of other international teams. She’s no stranger to grasping opportunities when they present themselves.
“Well, I’m local, I live 12 minutes away, I train at TCU, down the street in Ft. Worth, and I pride myself in staying ready for any opportunity that might present itself,” says Okonkwo. “I’m thankful for the opportunity, but it’s tragic, at the same time, for a player to go down. I’m happy to be able to come in and help the way that I have and I hope to be able to continue to do that.”
Through it all, one especially bright spot in an otherwise challenging season has been likely Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers. She has battled through injuries, as well, while learning that the WNBA is a different brand of basketball than she experienced as a record-breaking guard at UCONN.
“I’m definitely learning that the WNBA is a very physical league,” Bueckers tells The Garland Gazette. I think there should be a line between physical play and straight-up fouling and I don’t always know where that line is. I’m not saying I want to do their job, I wouldn’t want to because I know it’s hard, but with so many players getting hurt I hope it’s something the league will get better at.”
With their loss on on September 1st the Wings secured the worst record in the league. That gives them a significant shot at the top pick in next year’s WNBA draft, but Coach Koclanes isn’t finished competing with whomever is available over the last few games of the season.
“I want our team to continue to be present,” says Koclanes. “It would be easy to just pack it in right now, but our team is not doing that. They have an impressive level of care. To be able to continue to talk about what we’re doing, how when we’re in these spaces with each other we can continue to learn, we need to continue to learn and get better. The team has bought into that. Paying attention to everything we do, day in and day out, is continuing to establish this culture and they’re just bought in. The success on the floor will come. Down the stretch we’re trying to simplify, demand that standard that we still want while still being able to have fun and enjoy each other over these last few games.”
“It’s our job, but it’s also something that we love,” says Hley Jones. “It’s why we play the game of basketball as our profession. We come out every day, even though we’re not going to make the playoffs, and there are still things that we can fight for. Coach has talked about how we can play spoiler for a lot of these teams, we can be the bad guy, we can think about building for next season. We’re buying into a young team and showing that we have something this year, but it’s also a pride thing. We’re not going to roll over. All of our games are right there, it’s just the little things, the lulls, but we’re proving to ourselves that we can compete in this league.”
Injuries aside, there have been plenty of positives for Koclanes and his team. Another top pick to pair with Bueckers and a chance to get everyone healthy should work wonders as they prepare to look ahead to 2026.
The Wings final home game of the season will be at UTA on September 11th, with tickets available here!
For information about season tickets for the 2026 WNBA season, click here!
