The Dallas Wings entered the season with high expectations. The franchise had just won its first playoff series since moving to Texas in 2016 and won a franchise-record 22 games last season. With the expected development of players like Maddy Siegrist and Jacy Sheldon, there was real optimism that Dallas could establish itself as one of the top teams in the WNBA.
But injuries have completely slowed the Wings. Siegrist has missed a lot of time this season and All-WNBA forward Satou Sabally missed the entire first half of the season with a shoulder injury. Team president Greg Bibb spoke to the media on Thursday before the team’s final 15 games and gave updates on those injuries and the team’s outlook for the second half of the season.
Bibb said he expects Sabally to be ready for the team’s first game back from the break, an Aug. 16 matchup against the Connecticut Sun after playing for Team Germany in the Olympics, and he expects Siegrist to return to limited practice this week, with the earliest possible return date being the Aug. 20 clash with the New York Liberty. In addition, the team hopes to have rookie Jaelyn Brown back against the Sun as well.
This year has been tough, Bibb said, because in a professional sports atmosphere, teams want to win and this year’s record makes it difficult to make an assessment due to the team’s injuries.
“We’re a win-loss company,” he said. “But it’s really hard to fairly evaluate performance, whether it’s the players’ performance or the coaches’ performance, when you have the situation we had.”
Bibb added that the team did not have the tools to play at a certain level, which makes the responsibility all the more difficult. These final 15 games are very important for the organization, not only to make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, but also to improve chemistry and play better as a group.
“I will say, despite the record, despite the challenges, despite the injuries, despite the disappointments, our locker room is still together,” Bibb said. “Our locker room is still pulling in the same direction. Our locker room still believes the playoffs are a possibility.”
The team is currently 4.5 games out of eighth place in the WNBA standings, but has one of the toughest remaining schedules in the league. Five of the team’s first six games are against top-three teams in the league, and four of the team’s final five games are against top-five teams. In total, they will play New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, Las Vegas and Seattle nine times in 15 games – a tough road to come up nearly five games against a team (Chicago Sky) that will only face those teams six times.
The Wings will fight like crazy to secure a playoff spot, but there are positives to the season to focus on regardless of where they end up. Bibb said veteran defender Odyssey Sims is currently playing her best basketball and praised Arike Ogunbowale’s leadership qualities during the season.
“I’ve never seen anyone work as consistently as Arike does, every day,” Bibb said. “Whether it’s August or December, it’s the same approach every day.”
He pointed to Siegrist’s jump this season and said if the second-year forward was asked about her development, she would cite Ogunbowale as a big motivator. The team faces a tough task to clinch one of the eight playoff spots, but Bibb is confident his team will fight to the end.
“Everyone is positive and focused on the long-term goal,” he said. “The long-term goal, like every year, was to make the playoffs. That’s the first step and then we move on. Today, as we sit here and prepare for the start of the second half, that goal is still achievable.”
