Awak Kuier knew she had unfinished business.
After her first three seasons with the Dallas Wings, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft decided it was time to step away from the WNBA. Then 22 years old, Kuier had played 86 games in the league and made just four starts. She brought utility as a defender but averaged 2.6 points per game while never shooting over 40% from the field for a full season.
She saw the need for improvement, and felt the weight of year-round basketball. So Kuier didn’t return to Dallas for the 2024 or 2025 seasons, focusing on her career with Italian team Reyer Venezia. Even in doing so, the 6’6 forward always saw herself returning stateside.
“I feel like I had something to prove,” Kuier told The IX Basketball. “I still want to prove that I can play here, and that’s always going to be my mentality.”
Her return came to fruition for the 2026 season, and it has helped Dallas get off to a 12-8 start — the team’s best since 2018. Kuier is more productive, more efficient and has started the past seven games for the Wings. Still just 24 years old, she’s seen this year as a fresh start.
“I feel like this is my first year because I’m finally on the court and finally able to see how it really is,” Kuier said. “I think this feels like the first real experience.”
Kuier was one of three top-five picks for the Wings in 2021, joining top selection Charli Collier and No. 5 pick Chelsea Dungee. By 2023, Kuier was the only one left in Dallas — or on any WNBA roster.
The Wings made the playoffs in each of her three seasons, although 2023 was the only time they finished over .500. Kuier had her flashes across those years. A 10-point, eight-rebound, five-block effort against a Curt Miller-coached Connecticut Sun team was the highlight of her rookie season.
In 2022, she dunked in a regular season game against the Seattle Storm. In a series-clinching Game 2 win over the Atlanta Dream in 2023, she put up 13 points, two steals and three blocks. The Wings were then swept by the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces, and Kuier only posted double-digit minutes in the final game of the series.
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Kuier, a formidable competitor, recalls her first stint in the league as “tough” due to the lack of minutes, but said she learned a lot and had “a great time” off the court. In January of 2024, the Wings announced she wouldn’t play in the upcoming season.
“I feel like mostly it was just for myself,” Kuier said of the decision. “It was tough playing three years in a row, two seasons, and then obviously I feel like I was really young and I needed to work on a lot of things.”
Her initial statement mentioned a return for the 2025 season. That didn’t come to fruition either. However, as Curt Miller overhauled the roster in his first offseason as the Wings’ general manager, he knew Kuier would still have a place with the franchise.
“No one talks about Awak Kuier anymore,” Miller told reporters in July of 2025. “Such a young, dynamic piece that’s a part of our future also.”
Miller said that he “really recruited her hard” last year, but that Kuier saw the potential for even further improvement with waiting another season. The two sides were able to organize her return this past offseason, which thrilled the Dallas executive.
“Her body’s different, like she’s really added muscle and strength. She really did what she set out to accomplish. She wanted to take a couple years and improve,” Miller said at May’s media day. “… We were supportive, we were patient, and we recruited the heck out of her again, and now that she’s coming back, we can’t be happier.”
Kuier’s length, versatility and physicality has landed her a spot in the Wings’ starting lineup. The stats might not be eye-popping, but she’s been a defensive difference maker. Dallas’ defensive rating is significantly better with the forward on the court. Her career-high 5.5 points per game have come with an efficiency jump — Kuier’s 55.8% true shooting percentage is a career-best by nearly 10%.
Her improvements were informed by her prior experience in the WNBA. For Kuier and the Wings to go far this season, it’ll take a willingness to be physical.
“I remember playing against Vegas, and I just remember that it was very physical and just tough, I think that’s what I learned the most, like I need to be more physical,” Kuier said. “I think all of us as a team, we need to play more physical and just stop being so nice all the time.”
That applies on both the defensive and offensive end, she said. The Wings are last in the WNBA in free throw rate and second-to-last in free throw attempts per game. Kuier said the team has a tendency to settle at times.
“It’s easy to take a three,” Kuier said. “I feel like we just need to be more disciplined, understanding that to be able to win tough games, we have to get to the free throw line, and we have to attack the paint. It’s a learning curve for us, and we can only do better.”
As she’s made her return to the WNBA, Kuier is more determined and sure she belongs in the league than she was when she started her career at 19 years old. She has big plans for Dallas over the rest of the season — plenty more wins, and perhaps another dunk.
“I was telling [Aziaha James] that I have to dunk one time, she was asking me about it,” Kuier said. “So yes, that’s still a thing.”
