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WNBA Power Rankings: Dallas Wings are a rolling ball of chaos

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

WNBA Power Rankings: Dallas Wings are a rolling ball of chaos

The Dallas Wings are a rolling, swirling ball of chaos, and the downward spiral might not stop anytime soon.

Welcome to the Week 5 edition of For The Win’s 2025 WNBA power rankings, and if you know a Wings fan, tell them to look away. (They do not want to read this. They’re probably already going through a lot.) Looking at the team’s stats, Dallas surprisingly ranks around the middle of the pack in most league categories. However, defense seems to be the downfall of such a young squad.The Wings are ranked 11th in defensive rating (109.1) and have given up 80 or more points in 11 out of their 12 matchups this season, including 90-plus points five times. Dallas also gives up the second-most fastbreak points to opponents (14) in the league. The Wings’ defense has become a painful sight, and it’s costing them games, begging the question: When will it end?

These are For The Win’s WNBA power rankings for Week 5:

13. Dallas Wings (1-11)

The good news: Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers is back after missing three games with a concussion. She even dropped 35 points in her return.The bad news: Even with Bueckers, the Dallas is a mess. Perhaps there was no larger indictment of the state of the Wings than this week’s loss against the Aces. The Wings gave up a brutal 17-2 run to end the game after leading Vegas before the fourth quarter. Making matters worse, a clip of head coach Chris Koclanes and guard DiJonai Carrington in a back-and-forth exchange about a potential challenge with the game on the line went viral, leading to more scrutiny.But it doesn’t stop there. The Wings recently had to sign two hardship contracts because of injuries. Forward Maddy Seigrist is expected to miss a portion of the season after she suffered a bone fracture in her right knee, and guard Ty Harris is out for the season.

12. Connecticut Sun (2-8)

During their lone game of the week, the Connecticut Sun’s offense sputtered down the stretch. As much as center Tina Charles and forward Marina Mabrey are doing their part to help, it hasn’t been enough to power the team to many wins. The Sun have dropped three of their last five games. Hopefully, when rookie Saniya Rivers (illness) comes back, things will start moving again.

11. Chicago Sky (3-7)

Hello, Big Barbie Energy. Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese earned the first triple-double of her career on Sunday, and the Sky needed it badly. Unfortunately, forward Rhyne Howard and the Atlanta Dream dropped buckets all over Chicago just days before ― nine 3-pointers from Howard alone ― and that’s enough to make anyone feel defeated.

But, as head coach Tyler Marsh told the team following the loss, sometimes you have to be as desperate as 90’s R&B singers were to get that much-coveted win when you’re in a slump. Lint in our pocket says he played Jodeci’s Cry for You.

10. Washington Mystics (4-7)

The Sky weren’t the only team to suffer against the Atlanta Dream. The Washington Mystics had zero answers in the second half against Atlanta, their only matchup during Week 5. It probably didn’t help that rookie Sonia Citron was the only starter in double figures or that Washington shot a gross 29 percent from the field.

They also gave up *checks notes* 18 3-pointers and only had 12 total assists. Just punt the film into the wind, Washington, and never speak of it again.

9. Los Angeles Sparks (4-8)

The Los Angeles Sparks are still on the ugly roller coaster that comes with being a banged-up team. The week went a little something like this. First, Veteran guard Kelsey Plum went scorched earth on WNBA referees after a loss to the Golden State Valkyries. Then, everything seemed alright as Rickea Jackson found her groove with a 30-point game against the Las Vegas Aces. (Los Angeles even won. That’s nice, right?)

However, the Sparks ran into the Minnesota Lynx and Napheesa Collier. Collier had 16 points in the first half, if that’s any indication of how the 101-78 loss looked. Get healthy soon, Sparks.

8. Las Vegas Aces (5-5)

The Las Vegas Aces are going through it. A’ja Wilson suffered a concussion during a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks and missed two games during Week 5. The Aces did manage to win a gritty matchup against the Wings without Wilson. But days later, against the Phoenix Mercury, they had 19 turnovers, and no amount of scoring from their guard trio of Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, and Jewell Loyd was enough.

Wilson is also expected to miss Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. So, if production is not coming from Young, Gray and Loyd, the points will have to come elsewhere. Kiah Stokes? Tiffany Mitchell? Dana Evans? Aaliyah Nye? Somebody.

7. Golden State Valkyries (5-5)

The Golden State Valkyries are one of the most feisty teams in the entire WNBA, and at .500, their record is impressive for an expansion team. “We’re a team of sixth women”, center Temi Fagbenle told the media after a win over the Seattle Storm. “We know what it takes to be great teammates, and we know what it takes to step up …” As simple as that concept sounds, it’s harder to execute when everything is new. (Players, coaches, etc.) However, Golden State is making it work. It is currently riding a three-game win streak, and grinding through it down several players, who are either out with injury or are playing in EuroBasket.

6. Indiana Fever (5-5)

Caitlin Clark is back. We repeat: Caitlin Clark is back. Govern yourselves accordingly. Despite missing five games. Clark is seemingly incapable of being rusty. The Fever star had 32 points against the New York Liberty on Saturday, including seven from shots from beyond the arc. Clark brought a lot of life into a Fever team that was, at times, struggling without her.

Having four other players in double figures and shooting 48.6 percent from deep is a great reflection of what Clark’s presence does for the team. The Fever were able to capitalize on a New York Liberty squad that was down two starters, and Indiana rolled 102-88 against the reigning champs after losing to the Atlanta Dream earlier in the week.

5. Seattle Storm (6-5)

Over the last several weeks, it’s been impossible to tell what version of the Seattle Storm will appear from game to game, and Week 5 didn’t help that conclusion. Seattle was able to overcome an 11-point deficit to hand the Minnesota Lynx its first loss of the season. Five players were in double-digits, and their defense was huge down the stretch.

Three days later, they lost to the Golden State Valkyries despite a furious fourth-quarter surge. A brutal moving screen with under 30 seconds remaining only poured salt in the wound. Will the real Seattle Storm please stand up?

4. Phoenix Mercury (8-4)

The Phoenix Mercury should feel really good right now. Forward Alyssa Thomas is back, and with Thomas in the fold, the ball moves. Over the last three games she’s played in, Thomas has had 10-plus assists (15 on May 27, 10 on June 11, and 13 on June 15). Additionally, guard Kahleah Copper is back, and that means more production on both sides of the ball.

What makes Phoenix a particularly dangerous team is that outside of their big three, the bench is also very productive. For example, guard Sami Whitcomb had 18 points on 50 shooting against the Aces, and that’s momentum Phoenix could potentially use through the rest of the season and into the playoffs.

Diana Taurasi gives her thoughts on the upcoming CBA in the WNBA

With the upcoming WNBA collective bargaining agreement in need of negotiating, Diana Taurasi gives her thoughts on what needs to be focused on.

Sports Seriously

3. Atlanta Dream (8-3)

If you’ve been sleeping on the Atlanta Dream, time to wake up. (Get it? Sleeping? Dream? Okay. I’ll show myself out.) Atlanta has won seven of its last eight matchups, including every game during Week 5. Without Caitlin Clark, the Dream took care of the Fever with little to no problems. Against the Sky, Rhyne Howard’s 36 points were Chicago’s undoing. Howard let it rain from deep, draining a mind-boggling nine 3-balls.

The Dream also unraveled the Mystics with 18 3-pointers en route to an 89-56 win. Guard Allisha Gray (32 points) was one of several players with a career-high in scoring that day. Gray has been having a career year and should be in the MVP conversations behind Napheesa Collier. Plus, here’s one more player to watch: Forward Bri Jones has been quietly building a case for an All-Star nod, averaging just under a double-double (13 points and 8.7 rebounds) per game, and not enough people are talking about it.

2. New York Liberty (9-1)

The New York Liberty lost a game. (Shocking, we know.) Without starters Jonquel Jones (ankle) and Leonie Fiebich (playing in EuroBasket), New York couldn’t make up for the production loss against the Indiana Fever on June 14, despite beating the Chicago Sky earlier in the week.

Here’s something to keep an eye on: Starting point guard Natasha Cloud hasn’t eclipsed double digits since May 24. The Liberty don’t need Cloud to be a scoring machine every matchup, but without that extra punch, New York could find itself on the losing end of more games if its guard play continues to lag.

1. Minnesota Lynx (10-1)

The Minnesota Lynx also dropped a game this week. (*gasp*) Minnesota lost to Seattle in a 94-84 game that felt like a playoff battle, and truth be told, it wasn’t hard to see coming after escaping the Dallas Wings the game before. The Lync eventually got back in with win column with a 101-78 rout of the Los Angeles Sparks.

MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier had 16 points in the first quarter against Los Angeles and ended her day with 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Those sorts of shenanigans shouldn’t fool anyone. Collier’s been putting together performances like that all season to help the Lynx in their quest to get back to the WNBA Finals. She leads the league in points per game (26.1) and is top-ten in rebounds, steals and blocks per game. As long as Collier is rolling like that, the Lynx will be hard to beat.

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Dallas, TX

Dallas Stars blow out Anaheim Ducks as offense explodes for third straight win

Published

12 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Dallas Stars blow out Anaheim Ducks as offense explodes for third straight win

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks 8-3 on Friday night for their third straight win.

Roope Hintz and Thomas Harley each had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Bäck, Sam Steel, Ilya Lybushkin and Adam Erne also scored for the Stars. who are an NHL-best 13-2-4 on the road. Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen each had two assists, and Casey DeSmith had 23 saves.

Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. Lukas Dostal gave up four goals on seven shots before he was pulled with 5:41 left in the first period. Petr Mrazek came on and stopped 14 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Stars’ eight-goal output tied a season high, matching their 8-3 win at Edmonton on Nov. 25, and was the most the Ducks have given up.

Bäck gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal 2:37 into the game after the Ducks turned the puck over behind their net.

Poehling tied it 55 seconds later, scoring in close on the rebound of a point shot by Radko Gudas.

Hintz put Dallas back ahead at 4:42, getting a pass from Robertson in the slot, sliding backwards and firing a shot past Dostal for his 11th.

Steel pushed the Stars’ lead to 3-1 with 7:19 left in the first, scoring past Dostal while crashing into the net and dislodging it. The goal was confirmed after a review.

Harley made it a three-goal lead 1:38 later as he got a pass from Rantanen and scored from the right circle.

Robertson scored in front on a power play with 8:50 remaining in the second, and then put a backhander past Mrazek from the right circle 4 minutes later to make it 6-1. It gave Robertson a team-leading 22 goals.

Erne made it a six-goal lead with 1:30 left in the middle period.

After Sennecke pulled the Ducks back within five 1:01 into the third, Lybushkin got his first of the season 41 seconds later to extend the Stars’ lead to 8-2. Granlund capped the scoring with 5:38 remaining.

Up next

Stars: Host Toronto on Sunday.

Ducks: Host Columbus on Saturday.

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Dallas, TX

Don Stone, Dallas philanthropist and arts advocate, dies

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Don Stone, Dallas philanthropist and arts advocate, dies

Don Stone, a Dallas civic leader and strong supporter of the arts, died on Sunday. He was 96.

Angela Stone, Don’s youngest child, said her father was one of a kind, a rare mix of sweet and tough.

“He was just the most wonderful man I ever knew, just generous to a fault, smart, charming. He influenced so many people,” she said.

Stone gave widely across North Texas, including $500,000 to endow college scholarships for musically gifted Dallas ISD students. Stone also held leadership positions at several North Texas arts organizations, including the Dallas Public Library, Voices of Change, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Fine Arts Chamber Players, Orchestra of New Spain, the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Shakespeare Dallas and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

“He just believed that all of our lives would be so much poorer without music, art and theater. He said in our country we have the freedom to support whatever we want and that we needed to support the arts so that they would continue to exist,” Stone said.

Stone, a businessman who lived in Turtle Creek, worked for Sanger Harris, which later became Macy’s. He was a 2018 TACA Silver Cup Award honoree for his arts and culture advocacy in North Texas.

Maura Sheffler, president and executive director of The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), said in a statement that Stone’s legacy will continue to inspire the local arts community.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Don Stone, a devoted champion of the arts whose leadership and generosity,” she wrote.

Stone’s wife of over 72 years, Norma, died in June. She was the one who first got her husband involved in the arts, according to their daughter Angela.

Michelle Miller Burns, the DSO’s president and CEO, said the Stones had a profound impact on the DSO.

“It is with such a heavy heart that I received news of Don Stone’s passing earlier this week. Don was a devoted patron, a donor and a board member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and his leadership and generosity really have helped shape the Dallas symphony across five decades,” she said.

In 1980, Stone served as DSO’s chairman of the Board of Governors and helped launch efforts to raise $80 million for Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and secure architect I.M. Pei.

In 1997, the Stones launched the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund and committed $1 million to continuously support new works. Some of the works supported through the fund include this year’s world premiere of Angélica Negrón’s requiem For Everything You Keep Losing. The fund also supported a Grammy award-winning violin concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis co-commissioned with the Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Melbourne Symphony.

“I think it is rare for a couple who so firmly believes in the future of classical music and creating opportunities for new musical voices to be heard to really put support behind that in a meaningful way to fuel that process, to ensure that it can come to fruition,” Burns said.

She said the DSO will continue the Stones’ legacy by commissioning new works through the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund.

Stone is survived by his children Michael, Lisa and Angela, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The family will have a private funeral.

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.

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Daniss Jenkins sparks rally but Detroit Pistons fall in OT to Dallas

Published

2 days ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Daniss Jenkins sparks rally but Detroit Pistons fall in OT to Dallas

DALLAS — A late comeback attempt fell short for the Detroit Pistons.

They fell to the Dallas Mavericks in overtime, 116-114, after recovering from a third-period 18-point deficit. A dunk by Anthony Davis gave the Mavericks the lead for good with 1:32 to play in overtime.

Cade Cunningham (29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists) missed a short jumper with 7 seconds left that would’ve tied the game at 116, and Jalen Duren (17 points, 13 rebounds) couldn’t convert two offensive rebounds into a tip-in basket. Davis corralled the rebound with 0.9 seconds left, and the Mavericks called timeout.

The Pistons fouled Davis after the inbounds pass with a foul to give. Daniss Jenkins, who scored 11 points after halftime, stole the second inbounds pass with 0.6 seconds left but didn’t have enough time to get a shot off.

The Pistons trailed by 18 points with five minutes to play in the third quarter. Their bench unit was instrumental during a 31-11 run that gave the Pistons the lead again, 99-97, midway through the fourth quarter. They held Dallas to 38.5% shooting and forced nine turnovers in the second half.

No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg gave his Mavericks the lead, 110-109, with under 20 seconds to play with a midrange jumper. Isaiah Stewart was fouled by Davis on the other end with 3.4 seconds left, and he split the trip to the line to tie the game at 110. Klay Thompson missed a floater at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.

‘Dallas’ unit leads Detroit back from big deficit

Down 86-68 with 4:57 to play in the third quarter, coach J.B. Bickerstaff looked to the end of his bench for a spark. Jenkins, Marcus Sasser and Paul Reed checked into the game for the first time in consecutive order, joining Ron Holland and Javonte Green. The Pistons have a Dallas-centric roster — Holland, Sasser and Jenkins are all from the city, and Cunningham is from nearby Arlington.

They led an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 10, tallying four steals during the stretch — two for Green and one each for Jenkins and Reed. Cunningham checked in for Green to open the fourth quarter, and the run continued. A 3-pointer from Jenkins, coast-to-coast layup by Holland and midrange jumper from Jenkins extended the run to 21-7, cutting the deficit to 93-89 with under 10 minutes to play.

As he has done several times this season, Jenkins rose to the moment in the final period. An entry pass from Jenkins to Holland created an open layup to slash Dallas’ lead to two, and Jenkins made a layup over three Mavericks defenders to tie the game at 95 with 7:46 remaining and push the Pistons’ run to 27-9.

With 59 seconds left in the fourth, a pair of free throws from Jenkins extended the Pistons’ lead to 3, 109-106. He played 11 minutes and 32 seconds in the final period, second only to Cunningham, and overtime.

Ausar Thompson ejected in second quarter

The Pistons lost Thompson — their primary defender on Flagg — midway through the second period after an exchange with an official.

With 5:09 remaining before halftime, Thompson tied up Mavericks guard Ryan Nembhard under the rim and was whistled for a foul. Thompson didn’t like the call and got in the ref’s face, and was instantly ejected. NBA rules make it an auto-ejection when a player makes physical contact with an official.

It was a strong start for Thompson prior to the ejection, as he had eight points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal in nine minutes of play. Stewart entered for him in the second quarter.

In all, it was a rough night for the Pistons regarding the officials. Cunningham was whistled for a tech late in the second quarter after disagreeing with a call, and Bickerstaff was whistled for a tech during halftime after arguing with an official.

Duncan Robinson exits with left knee injury

With 11:08 to play in the third quarter, Robinson suffered a knee-to-knee collision with Mavericks wing Naji Marshall. Robinson limped off of the floor and was initially ruled “questionable” to return until he was downgraded to “out” in the final period.

Robinson finished with two points and two rebounds, shooting 1-for-7 overall and 0-for-5 from 3. He missed two games in early December with a right ankle sprain.

[ MUST WATCH: Make “The Pistons Pulse” your go-to Pistons podcast, listen available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

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