Paige Bueckers set another milestone in guiding long-suffering Wings to the playoffs

For the first time since 2023, the Dallas Wings are back in the WNBA playoffs.

In Paige Bueckers' second season with the franchise, the All-Star guard has guided Dallas to a 23-win season -- the Wings' best mark since 2007, when they were known as the Detroit Shock.

Bueckers was at her efficient and decisive best on Tuesday night, when the Wings blew out the Portland Fire to secure the eighth and final playoff berth -- though final seeding is yet to be decided.

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Bueckers scored 22 points and handed out 11 assists as Dallas notched a 96-78 home win over Portland.

Those numbers saw Bueckers become only the third player in WNBA history to log a 750-point, 200-assist season. The others are Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Plum.

Bueckers continues her march toward a 50/40/90 season, as she is averaging 20.6 points per game on 50.7 percent shooting, with a 39.8 percent mark from 3-point territory and an 87.1 percent accuracy rate from the free-throw line.

Winning the lottery in 2025 has changed the Wings' franchise. Long associated with dysfunction, Dallas had won only one playoff series in nine seasons since a relocation from Tulsa before it won the right to select Bueckers at the top of the 2025 draft.

After a 10-win campaign a year ago, the Wings have more than doubled that win total -- and with three more victories from their five remaining games, they will set an all-time franchise mark for single-season wins.

That is the Paige Bueckers effect.

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