The Dallas Wings have undergone a significant overhaul entering the 2025 WNBA season. After restructuring its front office around new general manager Curt Miller and hiring a new coach in Chris Koclanes, Dallas selected UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers first overall in last month’s draft to lead the franchise’s turnaround on the hardwood.
Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale could quickly form a backcourt duo as explosive as any in the WNBA. Ogunbowale is a volume shooter and scorer; Bueckers is a creative, instinctive and above all efficient playmaker, molded in a winning program under Geno Auriemma at UConn.
But Bueckers’ flair with the basketball also developed by watching Kyrie Irving, with whom she now shares the city of Dallas. Bueckers has been open about Irving’s influence over her playing style, and she has called the Mavericks point guard her favorite NBA player.
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“I think his finishing abilities, the way he uses his quickness, he’s extremely underratedly strong, and just his creativity are things I want to take away,” she said last month.
As Irving continues to recover from a left ACL tear he suffered in March, Bueckers has extended the star guard an invite he may not be able to refuse — especially as he is likely to pick up a player option to stay in Dallas for the 2025-26 NBA season.
“I would like to see Kyrie at a game this year,” Bueckers told reporters on Wednesday, informally inviting her hero to College Park Center for a Wings game.
The Mavericks are interested in handing Irving a three-year contract extension beyond next season, which means Irving will have plenty of chances to see Bueckers play — and the rookie, who missed the entire 2022-23 NCAA season with a torn left ACL, has backed the nine-time All-Star to return to form.
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“You can’t be that elite at basketball without having a great work ethic, so I know he’s going to dominate this recovery process just as he does basketball,” Bueckers said last month.
Related: Wings Coach Had Strong Words About Paige Bueckers Before WNBA Debut
