ARLINGTON, TX — Before the 2025 WNBA season began, the expectation was that 2025 No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers was likely going to play point guard for the Dallas Wings. Sure enough, Bueckers handled point guard duties early in the '25 campaign. However, as the season continued, Bueckers began starting games on the wing. Over the past month, guards JJ Quinerly and Grace Berger have often played the one while Bueckers was off the ball. On Sunday, though, the Wings announced that Quinerly will miss the remainder of the season because of an ACL sprain in her left knee.
Losing the guard for the remainder of the season is obviously far from ideal. Quinerly displayed promise in her rookie season. So, how will the Wings adjust?
Wings head coach Chris Koclanes told reporters before Sunday's game against the Golden State Valkyries that Quinerly's injury absence will lead to Bueckers seeing more time on the ball.
“It (Quinerly's injury) puts P (Bueckers) on the ball more right away… With just Grace (Berger) there, you know, ‘P, you're gonna have to initiate more and dominate on the ball some more,'” Koclanes said. “And she's, you know, more than capable and ready to do that.”
Bueckers, as Koclanes mentioned, is “more than capable” of running the point. She's certainly done it before. Even in recent action while off the ball fairly consistently, Bueckers still dribbled the ball up the floor at times. The 23-year-old understands what it requires to set up the offense.
The Wings are out of postseason contention. The remaining games will provide Dallas with an opportunity to analyze the plan for the future.
“Just really continuing to teach and not skip any steps,” Koclanes said of how he analyzes the game now that the Wings are out of the postseason conversation. “Just really, when we're in that film room, it's continuing to emphasize and re-emphasize repetitions. So, we're still talking about some things now that we were talking about in training camp. But that's a young group and that's a group that has had a ton of turnover… That's just the nature of the beast this year.
“But really, really honing in on the teaching here over this last quarter of the season to put us in a good position for next season, when we know we will have a lot of this group back. So, hopefully it should give us a kickstart here into next year.”
The Wings will host the Valkyries on Sunday afternoon.
