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The Dallas Wings will play the first of a back-to-back at home on Sunday afternoon against the Las Vegas Aces. Wings guard Paige Bueckers has been ruled out, as Dallas looks to get her a rest day. There was no injury listed, so the assumption is that Bueckers will be available for Monday night's game against the New York Liberty. However, the Wings' injury report for that game will not be released until Monday.
Myisha Hines-Allen (leg), Maddy Siegrist (knee) and Tyasha Harris (knee) have also been ruled out for Sunday's game in addition to Bueckers. Bueckers hinted that she may not participate in back-to-backs earlier in the season due to a lingering knee issue, and sure enough she is being held out of Sunday's contest for rest-related purposes.
“I’ve been dealing with patellar tendinitis since I was in high school,” Bueckers told reporters in early July in reference to missing the second of a back-to-back. “In a sense, you’re managing it at all times. There’s no day where it probably doesn’t hurt. But to be on the second night of a back-to-back where I just played 38 minutes, it usually never feels great the day after the game.
“But we usually either have an off day or a light practice day to where I can recover… Assuming I would either have to play a lot of minutes or be managed, we thought it was the smart thing to do to rest and recover.”
So why have Paige Bueckers play on Monday (assuming she's available for the Liberty clash) as opposed to Sunday? Well, the Aces are just 12-13 and have been struggling in recent action. Meanwhile, the Liberty entered their game on Saturday against the Los Angeles Sparks with a 17-6 record, good for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Only the Wings know why they made their decision, but perhaps Dallas simply preferred to have Bueckers available against the best team in the East as opposed to a mediocre team in the West. That is only speculation, however.
Regardless, Bueckers will certainly be missed on Sunday afternoon. The Wings will try to get the job done despite her absence at 4 PM EST in Arlington, TX.
