Dallas, TX
What do the Dallas Wings need to do to contend for the WNBA Finals next season?
At the end of the 2023 season, the Dallas Wings were one of the top four teams in the WNBA.
The team had increased its regular season win total and the length of its playoff runs over the last several years, including a trip to the 2023 semifinals, where they lost to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces.
“The expectation was that 2024 was going to be another step forward,” Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said in an interview this week.
Instead, the Wings took a step backward, missing the playoffs and finishing 9-31, their worst win percentage since 2019 after a spate of injuries. They also found themselves on the losing end of 14 games decided by 10 points or less. Had these games gone their way, 23-17 would have made the playoffs.
For the Wings to achieve their goal of reaching the WNBA Finals — in which the Minnesota Lynx hold a 1-0 lead over the New York Liberty going into Sunday’s Game 2 — Bibb said a few things need to happen, but players staying healthy tops the list.
“Disappointing is the best word to use to describe the ‘24 season,” said Bibb, the organization’s president and CEO since 2017, though he doesn’t want to make excuses.
“In our business, you are what your record says you are,” Bibb said. “But that said, we did experience a significant number of injuries.”
The biggest star to catch the Wings’ injury bug was forward Satou Sabally, the No. 2 overall draft pick in the 2020 WNBA draft, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury for the first 25 games of the season. The league’s Most Improved Player in 2023 had averaged a career-high 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds and was named to the All-WNBA First Team.
Other key players struck by injuries included forwards Natasha Howard and Maddy Siegrist, the third overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft.
That left guard Arike Ogunbowale to carry much of the load. The veteran averaged 22.2 points per game, became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team in 2024, but her performance couldn’t overcome the team’s personnel issues.
“Our lineups kept changing because of injuries and we didn’t really get into a groove,” said Siegrist, who suffered a finger injury this year. “We were dropping a lot of close games early and then we had a couple more injuries and we couldn’t really as a team get over that hump.”
As the Detroit Shock and the Tulsa Shock, the organization won WNBA titles in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Last season’s semifinal appearance was the organization’s best finish since since moving to Dallas-Fort Worth in 2016 and rebranding as the Wings.
“We were really bad defensively this year, so I think we need an organizational recommitment to the defensive side of the ball,” Bibb said. “From a specific roster perspective, some additional veteran leadership and some experience at the point guard position, this early in our offseason evaluation, are probably the two items that are at the top of our priority list.”
Siegrist said a finals appearance would also depend on how well the team is working together come playoffs.
“You’ve got to be gelling at the right time,” she said. “You need all the pieces. You need seven, eight deep of real strong players because of different lineups, stuff like that. You want to be able to feel comfortable every time with the group you’re putting out.”
The Wings are already looking ahead to 2025 by collecting information from the previous season, which ended with a 98-84 loss to the Aces, and strategizing.
“There are some complexities to go forward,” Bibb said, “not only for us, but for every team around the league as we head toward next year and beyond, because you’ll have an expansion draft.”
The WNBA is adding a 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, in 2025. They’ll start to assemble an inaugural roster with a Dec. 6 expansion draft that Golden State the ability to choose from a pool of available players as designated by each of the WNBA’s current 12 teams.
Portland and Toronto will also participate in an expansion draft when they add WNBA teams in 2026.
“There are some other things on the horizon that just make the next couple years a little bit different and more difficult than a typical cycle of years,” Bibb said.
Big changes are coming for the Wings, too. In April, the Dallas City Council approved a 15-year, $19 million use agreement for the Wings to play in Memorial Arena, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center downtown, starting in 2026. The Wings’ home court has been at UT Arlington’s College Park Center.
Bibb said upcoming projects, including the construction of a practice facility, will create “more opportunity to generate revenue, more ability to impact the community and first and foremost, services to help our athletes be the best they can be, which ultimately leads to championships.”
The upcoming expansion drafts and the Wings’ pending move to Dallas are emblematic of the women’s basketball boom. In 2023, the Wings saw record attendance. The organization sold out season ticket memberships for the first time in its history, with individual ticket sales up more than 1,100%.
“I just knew it was a matter of time until the right set of circumstances aligned and the league really started to take off,” said Bibb, who’s been involved with the WNBA since 2007. “And that’s what’s happened the last few years.”
The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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For a moment, it looked like FC Dallas was on its way to another statement win at home tonight.
Petar Musa scored two first half goals, to extend his Golden Boot leading tally to nine goals. But after Dallas grabbed control, the Galaxy found a way back before halftime with goals from Lucas Sanabria and Joseph Paintsil.
The second half brought more chances and more frustration for Dallas, which finished the night with 13 shots to LA’s nine. In the end, the point stretched Dallas’ unbeaten run to five games, though just like last week, it felt like another match where Dallas left points on the table.
Key Moments
7’ – GOAL! After a poor pass back by a LA defender, Petar Musa was free to go one-on-one with the LA goalkeeper. After a touch to get ahead of a defender, Musa slotted home his eighth goal of the season from outside the penalty box.
21’ – Offside! Joaquin Valiente sent a floating ball over the Galaxy defense, where Musa was able to get behind the defense and make an easy play for what appeared to be his second goal of the night. The play was called offside despite a fairly lengthy review period.
38’ – GOAL! This one counts! Musa gets his second of the night off a great ball from Chris Cappis. Logan Farrington picked off the ball in the midfield. He then played Cappis wide to the left of the penalty area. Cappis immediately played a ball back across the goal for Musa to slide in and finish for his ninth of the season.
43’ – Goal LA. Lucas Sanabria got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He took a couple of touches to get outside the penalty box before firing a shot that beat Michael Collodi at the near post.
45+4’ – Goal LA. Gabriel Pec got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He pulled the ball back a bit, which caught a pair of Dallas defenders. This allowed Joseph Painstil to get free behind the Dallas defense as Pec played him through inside the penalty area. Pec immediately smashed home a shot above Collodi to tie the game.
75’ – Another offside goal. This time on a corner kick for Dallas, after a scrum in the penalty box, Kaick hammered home what looked to be the go-ahead goal. But after a few seconds the flag was raised due to a deflection on Osaze Urhoghide, who was in an offside position.
Instant Reaction
Yeah, this is another disappointing result for this team. In a real way, it felt like the first half against Houston from last month. Dallas grabbed the lead, looked in control, but some defensive miscues opened the game up for the visitors to climb back.
With a double-game week coming up, this will certainly be another game where Dallas will wonder ‘what if’ more than anything else…especially when you factor in the two goals called off for offside.
About the Subs
Eric Quill went to his bench for the first time in the 66th minute, as he brought on Santiago Moreno for Logan Farrington. Quill went to his bench again 81st minute with Ran Binyamin and Nolan Norris coming on for Sebastien Ibeagha and Deedson. The final sub came during stoppage time with Herman Johansson and Joaquin Valiente coming off for Sam Sarver and rookie Nick Simmonds, who made his MLS debut.
Man of the Match
No question about it tonight, it has to be Musa.
Where does this fit into the season
As of this writing, the draw puts Dallas into a three-way tie for 5th place with Real Salt Lake and Seattle. Both are in action right now and look firmly in control of their games. I’d expect Dallas to be in 7th place by the end of the night.
What’s next for FC Dallas
Dallas wraps up a three-game homestand next Wednesday night as they host Minnesota United.
Dallas, TX
Akheem Mesidor selected by Cowboys by Blogging The Boys in SB Nation’s community mock draft
Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami
Pass rush has been an issue since the Micah Parsons trade. The Rashan Gary trade helped, but Dallas still needs an injection of talent. Akheem Mesidor fits here because his body size allows for some versatility inside and out, something DC Christian Parker utilizes. Mesidor is also a high-motor player with a deep bag of pass rush moves.
His last season at Miami was full of disruption in the offensive backfield and he shows an all-around game, not just a bend-around-the-edge pass rusher. Yes, he’s a little older than you’d like in a rookie (25), but his motor, pass rush toolbox, and ability to play the run matches up with a need and makes him a quality pick at number 20.
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