{"id":602774,"date":"2026-04-24T02:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602774\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T02:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:24:09","slug":"wings-asking-for-little-bit-of-grace-as-team-waits-on-key-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602774\/","title":{"rendered":"Wings asking for ‘little bit of grace’ as team waits on key players"},"content":{"rendered":"

The championship culture the\u00a0Dallas Wings<\/a> aim to build may not lead to immediate championship results.<\/p>\n

Wings general manager Curt Miller said as much on Thursday after a training camp practice in Arlington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope there\u2019s a little bit of grace with this team and with this coaching staff in May because when we get to Game 1, we will not have been together very long [and we\u2019ll be] playing against teams that are not only together, but have been together for years, \u201d Miller said. \u201cAs I\u2019ve been constantly saying, our team will look a lot different in July than they do in May.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wings started training camp on Sunday, giving the team and new coach Jose Fernandez just 20 days to prepare for the season opener at the Indiana Fever on May 9. Dallas, which initially listed 22 players on its training camp roster, has until May 7 to trim that number down to 14 \u2014 12 active players with two additional development spots. The Wings brought in several new pieces in 2026 and made their first cuts on Wednesday, waiving guard Shyanne Sellers and forward Grace Sullivan.<\/p>\n

But Dallas\u2019 challenges go beyond the time crunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some big pieces that we\u2019re going to count on [and] they\u2019re not here yet,\u201d Fernandez said Thursday.<\/p>\n

All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale and free agency pick-up Jessica Shepard<\/a> \u2014 two of the highest paid players on the roster and both signed to multi-year deals\u2014 are finishing up overseas basketball commitments and likely won\u2019t arrive until early next week at the latest, Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Awak Kuier, the second overall pick in 2021 who has sat out WNBA play since after the 2023 season, has finished her overseas commitments and is currently in her home country of Finland, where she\u2019s awaiting her appointment with the consulate. Miller said the Wings don\u2019t have an exact date for her arrival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFour of our top eight players going into this season are not in the building today,\u201d Miller said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Fernandez said the staff has shared everything that has been implemented with all of the players who are away. And in the meantime, the Wings can lean on the strength of their 2025 No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers and returners such as forward Maddy Siegrist, a first-round pick in 2023. Dallas also picked up Alysha Clark and Odyssey Sims, two tenured players who bring veteran leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The championship culture the\u00a0Dallas Wings aim to build may not lead to immediate championship results. Wings general manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[14537,99,248033,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-602774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-brief","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tp-paige-bueckers","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602774","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=602774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}