{"id":312255,"date":"2025-11-25T06:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T06:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/312255\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T06:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T06:42:07","slug":"dallas-wings-wnba-draft-lottery-win-comes-with-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/312255\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Wings’ WNBA draft lottery win comes with options"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team selected Paige Bueckers<\/a>, the UConn guard long considered an elite prospect whose production as a rookie met the hype.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her Rookie of the Year-winning campaign came in contrast to a last-place finish for the Wings, one that also gave Dallas the best odds for again receiving the No. 1 draft selection. On Sunday, they officially secured the top pick, marking the fifth time a WNBA team has had consecutive No. 1 picks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dallas executive vice president and general manager Curt Miller called the win a \u201chuge momentum moment\u201d for the franchise Sunday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The path forward with this pick is far less clear than last year, however. In the past few seasons, the projected top pick was well-known by the time the lottery took place, perhaps only with lingering questions concerning whether they would declare.<\/p>\n

In 2026, such a consensus doesn\u2019t exist quite yet. For example, ESPN has already mocked three different players to the Wings in the top slot \u2014 UCLA center Lauren Betts, Valencia (Spain) center Awa Fam and UConn guard Azzi Fudd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miller said that \u201csix prospects\u201d have separated themselves, not naming most of them but giving short praise to each.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a great passer and leader from the point guard position,\u201d Miller said. \u201cYou have one of the best shooters that we\u2019ve seen in a long time, one of the fastest releases. You have a transition player that really thrives in the full court, and in transition offense, you got a bonafide big-time scorer that\u2019s led the nation. You got two post players that are projected to be in these top six, an international young phenom that\u2019s still 19. And the center out in UCLA in Lauren Betts and her great size in that great program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five unnamed players can be assumed to be TCU guard Olivia Miles, Fudd, LSU guard Flau\u2019jae Johnson, South Carolina guard Ta\u2019Niya Latson and Fam, respectively. The six prospects also make up the top six in the The IX Sports\u2019 first 2026 draft board<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Want even more women\u2019s sports in your inbox?<\/p>\n

Subscribe now to The IX Sports<\/a> and receive our daily women\u2019s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.<\/p>\n

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Miller said one of the main advantages of having the top pick is \u201coptionality.\u201d Before the college draft takes place, there will be a two-team expansion draft and a free agency period that is expected to be packed with action. With the roster shifts to come this offseason, Dallas\u2019 draft needs may change.<\/p>\n

As of now, there\u2019s not much solidified for Dallas besides Bueckers\u2019 stardom and perhaps the retention of forward and successful lottery representative Maddy Siegrist<\/a>. With a collection of youth and the impending free agent status of veteran guards Arike Ogunbowale<\/a> and Ty Harris<\/a>, the Wings will have tough decisions to make.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLeague-wide, I think we have a difficult decision on our protections. I\u2019m not the only GM that\u2019s going to have sleepless nights. Nearly every day we talk about our protections and what potentially that could look like in the expansion draft,\u201d Miller said. \u201cObviously, free agency is top of mind for everyone as we get a new CBA ratified on this unprecedented free agency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lack of a can\u2019t-miss star in this class also means other teams see a trade for a top pick as a real possibility. Miller said that even before the Wings knew where they\u2019d pick, he received more calls about a potential deal than he did last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Caitlin Clark<\/a> draft, there was not going to be a trade, Paige was not going to be traded,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be interesting and it makes our job fun to listen to those phone calls that come in for the No. 1 pick. And we\u2019ll do what\u2019s best for our franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that Dallas intends on going through with a deal for the top pick. But another dynamic has been added to the conversation that hasn\u2019t been present in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless of how the Wings utilize their top pick, Miller said it has the potential to \u201ccatapult\u201d the team into success after a few tough seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a really special time,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI know our ticket takers are in the office tonight on a Sunday night, we were hoping for this result and generating even more season ticket sales. So my message is, \u2018Go get your season tickets.\u2019 It\u2019s going to be a really, really bounceback year for the Dallas Wings, and we\u2019re really excited and know what this pick can do for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark\u201d is out now!<\/p>\n

Howard Megdal\u2019s newest book is here! \u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar\u201d captures both the historic nature of Clark\u2019s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The team selected Paige Bueckers, the UConn guard long considered an elite prospect whose production as a rookie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[37248,138405,161082,16393,1760,2835,2834,15112,65479,15114,2833,99,72669,434,2940],"class_list":{"0":"post-312255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-2026-wnba-draft","9":"tag-2026-wnba-draft-lottery","10":"tag-awa-fam","11":"tag-azzi-fudd","12":"tag-caitlin-clark","13":"tag-curt-miller","14":"tag-dallas-wings","15":"tag-flaujae-johnson","16":"tag-lauren-betts","17":"tag-olivia-miles","18":"tag-paige-bueckers","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-taniya-latson","21":"tag-wnba","22":"tag-wnba-draft"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}