{"id":306312,"date":"2025-11-25T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306312\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:10:15","slug":"no-1-pick-gives-dallas-wings-chance-to-give-paige-bueckers-her-running-mate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306312\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 1 pick gives Dallas Wings chance to give Paige Bueckers her running mate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ixm5ztn0t\">The <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_7hjs5u\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/wings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dallas Wings<\/a> are starting the WNBA Draft for a second year in a row, but it isn&#8217;t as clear cut this time around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_84iepo53n\">When the Wings won the WNBA Draft lottery a year ago, they knew Paige Bueckers was destined for Dallas. This time around, the choice isn&#8217;t as easy because there are a few talented players worth taking with the No. 1 pick, including <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_7hjs5u\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/wnba\/news\/2026-wnba-mock-draft-1-0-dallas-wings-win-lottery-no-1-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spanish center Awa Fam.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_b1f6wtycy\">&#8220;The 19-year-old Fam is the best prospect in this class, and the Wings should not overthink this pick,&#8221; CBS Sports contributor Jack Maloney wrote. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ri55nto23\">&#8220;Bigs with her level of athleticism and versatility on both sides of the ball are rare, and she&#8217;s shown in EuroLeague this season that she&#8217;s already capable of holding her own against WNBA veterans. Fam would be an excellent frontcourt partner for Paige Bueckers and give the Wings a strong foundation for the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_31okn8khk\"><a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_7hjs5u\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/wings\/news\/dallas-wings-bring-up-caitlin-clark-paige-bueckers-trade-talk-about-first-pick-2026-wnba-draft-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">READ MORE: Dallas Wings bring up Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers for trade talk about first pick<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard talks to Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers\" title=\"Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard talks to Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard talks to Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers. \/ Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ctwb525s5\">The Wings could take other players like UCLA center Lauren Betts or UConn guard Azzi Fudd, who won a national championship with Bueckers last year, but Fam could have the highest ceiling of the three potential top picks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_w80h1h58j\">Fam is only 19 years old, so she&#8217;s coming into the league with less experience, but a different level of training with the European style of play, which is finding its way of trickling into the WNBA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_otbwm94hd\">Wings head coach Jose Fernandez has often recruited players from Europe to play for him at the University of South Florida and his system has a lot of European influence. Fam could be a better fit for what Fernandez is trying to run in Dallas moving forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_yxyapxr96\">Fam would be a massive gamble for the Wings, especially with the No. 1 overall pick, but that boldness could be what the team needs to get out of this rebuild.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_new32bfnw\"><a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_7hjs5u\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/wings\/paige-bueckers\/paige-bueckers-praised-cooper-flagg-after-support-recent-mavericks-games-dallas-wings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">READ MORE: Paige Bueckers praised by Cooper Flagg after support at recent Mavericks games<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_52kkyrhpk\">Stick with\u00a0WingsGameday\u00a0for more\u00a0<a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_7hjs5u\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/wings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE coverage of the Dallas Wings<\/a>\u00a0throughout the offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Wings are starting the WNBA Draft for a second year in a row, but it isn&#8217;t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-306312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}