The Dallas Wings were defeated by the Atlanta Dream 83-78 on Tuesday night. Dallas is now 1-2 to begin the 2024 WNBA season. For new Wings forward Monique Billings, who was signed following Natasha Howard's injury, the game represented an opportunity to play against a team she spent six seasons with.

Billings performed well in the defeat. She recorded a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. Billings added an assist, a steal, and three blocks. After the game, Billings discussed playing against her former team.

“A lot of emotions,” Billings said, via the Dallas Wings on X (formerly Twitter). “I feel like I was just embraced by everyone from Atlanta. From the fans, to the people in the organization, my teammates, coaches, so I'm really grateful for that. I'm grateful for my new team. They've embraced me too. It's crazy, a week ago I wasn't even on a team. Here I am on a team… God bless. Just all the feels, just taking nothing for granted.

“Very grateful, would be better with a win but I'm proud of our fight. We're young. We just gotta go through these growing pains until we just get tired of it. So I think we will be in a good place.”

Billings is a good player. It is surprising that she did not draw more interest before the Wings signed her. She enjoyed a number of good seasons with the Dream.

Nevertheless, Billings has found a new home and will play a pivotal role moving forward as Dallas deals with multiple injuries.

Wings' injuries impacting early season struggles

Dallas is 1-2 so far in 2024. They have now dropped back-to-back games after winning their season-opener over the Chicago Sky.

Natasha Howard and Satou Sabally are currently both out with injuries. The Wings are hopeful that Howard can return within the next few weeks, but Sabally will be out until August.

Wings head coach Latricia Trammell addressed the Wings' performance amid the team's injury trouble.

“I told the team after this game, the effort, the passion, the will to win, we just gotta hold on until we get some more bodies,” Trammell said. “But I've been extremely proud of this group. The performance that they are doing individually then in turn as a team is something we can definitely build on.”

Tuesday's contest represented the first of a five-game road trip. The Wings will travel to Phoenix to battle the Mercury on Saturday before playing the Los Angeles Sparks in the second of a back-to-back on Sunday. They will finish the road trip next weekend against the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx before returning home for a highly-anticipated clash against the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces on June 5.