ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings are days away from their first playoff game since 2023.
With the postseason matchups finalized Thursday night, the team practiced once more in Arlington on Friday before they head to San Francisco for Game 1 against the Golden State Valkyries.
Dallas beat the Seattle Storm on Wednesday to cap a historic regular season for the franchise. Under first-year head coach Jose Fernandez, the Wings went 27-17 — marking the team’s best record since relocating to North Texas and a drastic turnaround from last year’s 10-34 record.
The Wings were thrilled to make the playoffs, and proud of their overall accomplishments. Any further celebration has been put on hold, however, as the team looks to make postseason noise.
“I think the excitement part is gone,” Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale told reporters Friday. “Obviously, it’s a blessing to be in the playoffs. It’s not easy to be there. It’s been a minute since we’ve been there, but we know it’s unfinished business, so we can look back on the season later. We’re definitely just focused on Golden State right now.”
The 32-12 Valkyries, who finished just one game behind top-seeded Minnesota, are a fearsome opponent. They swept the Wings in the regular season with an average margin of victory of 12.3 across three games.
Golden State is powered by its defense. Four players on the roster — Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton, Kiah Stokes and Tiffany Hayes — have been honored on an all-defensive team at some point in their WNBA careers. The Valkyries’ 99.1 defensive rating leads the WNBA this year and is historically strong relative to the league average.
“I think they have a lot of versatility on the defensive end,” Dallas center Jessica Shepard told reporters. “Obviously, they switch one through five a lot of the time. Kiah [Stokes] is a great shot blocker at that end, and then just the level of intensity that they play with on the defensive end.”
The Valkyries stifled the Wings in their meetings so far this year. Dallas holds the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in league history, but averaged 14.0 assists and 12.3 turnovers in the three games against Golden State. No other team held Dallas to fewer than 18 assists per game.
Star guard Paige Bueckers has averaged 17.7 points and 4.0 assists on 44.2% shooting against the Valkyries this season, notable dips from her regular numbers.
Fernandez noted Friday that the Wings have gotten out to good starts against Golden State, but second quarters have been an issue. Dallas was outscored 27-7 and 24-9 in the second period of its two road games against the Valkyries.
“We’ve got to be good in transition,” Fernandez said. “… They’re physical and they do a good job rotating. It’s going to come down to, also, if we can’t score in transition, we’ve got to execute in the halfcourt.”
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The Valkyries have a rather average but unique offensive attack. They take 45% of their shots from three, the second-highest 3-point rate in league history behind the 2025 Valkyries. They also score 35.9 points per game off the bench, 7.4 more than any other team in the league and 12.5 more than any other playoff team.
While Williams is a two-time all-star, Defensive Player of the Year candidate and Golden State’s leading scorer, she averages just 14.4 points per game. The team has two other double-digit scorers, including reserve Janelle Salaün, and four more averaging at least seven points per game.
Another disadvantage for Dallas is its lack of lineup continuity. A season-ending procedure for Azzi Fudd and repeated injuries to Alanna Smith have meant the team hasn’t been able to stick to a regular group of starters.
The Wings will likely start Bueckers, Ogunbowale, Shepard and Awak Kuier on Sunday, with Smith or Maddy Siegrist taking the fifth spot, depending on whether the former is available. Either way, neither of those starting groups have topped 80 minutes together this season. The Valkyries, on the other hand, have had over 350 minutes with their primary five.
“We’ve got to control what we can control,” Fernandez said. “That’s what we’ve done all year long with some injuries. We’ve played [Golden State] three times with three different starting lineups. So this will be a different one as well.”
Dallas doesn’t want to be satisfied with a great regular season and a first-round exit. In the coming three-game series, it’ll look to pull the upset behind Bueckers, Ogunbowale and Shepard. That starts on Sunday, before the team returns home for Wednesday’s Game 2.
“The regular season’s over now,” Fernandez said. “… Now you’re playing to win a series and to win another one and then win a championship. So I think that’s what we talked about when we left Seattle, and that’s how we practiced today.”
