DALLAS — Since the start of the 2025 season, Arike Ogunbowale has been trying to rediscover her rhythm with the Dallas Wings.
The eight-year pro and four-time All-Star had found success in her career with the ball primarily in her hands. She ranked in the top three in the WNBA in shot attempts per game for each of her first six seasons. With the selection of star guard Paige Bueckers at the top of the 2025 draft, that changed.
It hasn’t been the smoothest ride since for Ogunbowale, who had her worst scoring season in terms of both volume and efficiency in 2025 while playing just 29 games due to injury. At the start of the 2026 season, it was more of the same, but the guard has turned things around as of late.
Ogunbowale is still averaging a career-low 15.2 points per game, but her true shooting percentage is a career-high 53.6%. Since the beginning of July, her numbers have jumped to 16.8 points per game on 58.1% true shooting percentage. The veteran said the recent success is a product of the adjustment she’s continued to make to first-year coach Jose Fernandez’s offense.
“Figuring out what the team actually needed from me, I think that was a big thing,” Ogunbowale told reporters Friday. “Obviously, I’ve been in the league a long time, and it’s looked a lot different. But just getting comfortable in this role, and I think I embraced it. I know what they need from me day in and day out, and we’ve been gelling really well, so it’s been good.”
What the team has needed from the guard, primarily, is getting to the rim. Dallas takes just 42.3% of its shots within 10 feet of the basket, the second-lowest mark in the league behind the Golden State Valkyries. While the Valkyries opt for a league-best 3-point rate, the Wings take the most mid-range shots.
Fellow guards Bueckers and Azzi Fudd excel in that mid-range area, but the trade-off for the team is fewer layups and fewer free throws. Ogunbowale’s role in the backcourt is to balance that out.
This season, she’s shifted her shot profile away from the mid-range jumpers she’s also been fond of taking. A career-high 35.9% of her shot attempts have come within 10 feet, while 42.9% are taken from beyond the 3-point line. She shoots four free throws per game and has made 88.5% of her shots from the line, both team-bests.
Reserve guards, including Odyssey Sims and Aziaha James, have similar roles, but Ogunbowale has cleanly been the most effective. She’s bought into her new coach’s system, and it’s paying off on the floor.
“Arike has also changed a lot and given up a lot about shot selection and her really grinding and playing defense,” Fernandez told reporters after the team’s playoff-clinching win over Portland. “… She really loves this franchise, and she wants to be here, and she wants to win, and I had a lot of respect for that, but it had to be done the right way. If she can continue to get to the rim and to the free throw line, that helps us a lot.”
She’s played her best basketball over the past couple months. After shooting a horrid 32.3% on 2-pointers over her first 20 games of the season, she’s converted 56.1% of her attempts inside the arc in the 19 games since. In the August 20 win over Indiana, she registered a season-high 32 points.
“She’s been really consistent, and she’s been aggressive, and she’s really gotten downhill, gotten to the free throw line, and I think that’s opened up her 3-point shot too,” Bueckers said. But she’s just been everything we needed.”
Her continued success will be key for Dallas through the rest of the regular season and playoffs, especially with Fudd now out for the season. There’s still room for growth, too, as her 3-point shot hasn’t been as accurate as of late.
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Ogunbowale — who noted that she didn’t get a full training camp with the team coming into the year — said her comfortability on this team has just come with time over the course of the season. She certainly doesn’t plan on slowing down from here on out.
“I found that stride, found that rhythm, and now I know what the team needs from me,” Ogunbowale said. “I’m just gonna try to keep producing for them.”
