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Dallas Wings Complete Historic 17-Win Turnaround, Set Franchise Record
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- Dallas Wings Complete Historic 17-Win Turnaround, Set Franchise Record
(Steven Bisig-Imagn Images)
The Dallas Wings wrapped up the regular season at 27-17 on Wednesday night, 17 wins better than their 10-34 record in 2025. They closed with a 103-91 win over the Seattle Storm in Seattle.
No team in WNBA history has improved by more in a single season. The old mark was 16 wins, set by the 2003 Detroit Shock when they jumped from 9-23 to 25-9 and won the franchise's first championship.
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Wings coach Jose Fernandez now owns the largest turnaround by a first-year head coach in league history, the team said.
Those 27 wins are also a franchise record. The 2003 Shock had held that one too, with 25. Dallas matched it on Sept. 17 by beating the Los Angeles Sparks 97-77. Two nights later, an 87-82 home win over the Phoenix Mercury broke it.
Wings Complete Historic Turnaround Under Jose Fernandez
A year ago, the Wings were tied for the worst record in the league. On Sept. 30, 2025, the Wings parted ways with Chris Koclanes after one season as coach. Fernandez was hired Oct. 28. He had been South Florida's coach since 2000.
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That 10-34 finish sent the No. 1 overall pick to Dallas for a second straight year. After taking Paige Bueckers first in 2025, the Wings used this year's top pick on Azzi Fudd in April.
Fudd averaged 13.1 points before a knee injury ended her season in August. The league approved a season-ending injury exception for Dallas that month.
Injuries were part of what Fernandez listed Wednesday when he walked back through the year, alongside his staff and the players in the locker room.
"I think with all the things, you can go back to training camp, right?" Fernandez said after Wednesday's finale . "You go back to training camp and who we had at training camp and how the time we had to prepare. And then look at last year's roster to this year's roster, returners to newcomers, to have a 17-game turnaround."
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"Incredible staff, incredible people in that locker room, and very fortunate and excited about our time here to getting into the playoffs," Fernandez added. "And we're one of eight teams still playing basketball. So a lot of positives throughout the year with a lot of the different things that we had to go through, also from an injury standpoint."
Paige Bueckers, Jessica Shepard Rewrite Record Book
Bueckers scored 878 points in her second season. That broke the franchise's single-season record of 849, set by Arike Ogunbowale in 2023.
Jessica Shepard, in her first year with Dallas, finished with a league-high six triple-doubles. The sixth came in Seattle, where she had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists.
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Bueckers played her rookie season on the 10-34 team.
"Funny to think about because I haven't even thought about all that we accomplished and all that we did throughout the regular season because that's life," Bueckers said in a postgame interview with USA Sports . "You're so future-forward focused. It's always the next thing. So it's hard sometimes to not stop and smell the roses, but to be able to do what we did as a team this year as an organization, the turnaround was insane. I don't know if it was historical, but to be where we were last year where we won 10 games and I was down bad, I love coming to work."
"I love my teammates," Bueckers continued. "I love being here in Dallas, but I love to win and I hate losing with a passion. But to be steady and even-keeled and remain who I am consistently and who we are, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the outcomes, to be able to be on the other side of it and win, you just don't want to take that for granted and think that you're entitled to anything."
"We're hungry," Bueckers noted. "We're not satisfied and we're not complacent with what we've accomplished. We want to continue to keep getting better for right now and for the future. But I'm sure I'll do more reflecting after the season."
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Wings Finish Regular Season on 7-1 Run
Dallas locked up a playoff spot on Aug. 25 by beating the Portland Fire 96-78 at home. The berth is the franchise's first since 2023 and sixth since the 2016 move to North Texas.
Twice the Wings won six in a row: July 2 through July 19, and again in September. Both runs tied the longest winning streak in franchise history. Phoenix ended the second one, 87-86, on Sept. 21.
The Wings went 7-1 over their final eight games, closing with the win in Seattle. All four meetings with the Storm went to Dallas, the franchise's first season sweep of Seattle.
At home, Dallas finished 16-6 in its last season at College Park Center. All of the Wings' 2027 home games move to American Airlines Center in Dallas.
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"I'm having a great time because I get an opportunity to work with incredible people," Fernandez explained after the Sept. 19 home finale. "I think that's number one. Man, I have an incredible staff as well. So we set out what we wanted to set out to do at the beginning of the year, was to be a playoff team. Once you get into the playoffs, now you can play for a championship, right? You can't play for one if you don't qualify for the playoffs."
"But I've been really pleased on how we protected our home floor as well," Fernandez continued. "So with the things that we've gone through this year too from an injury standpoint. So there's a lot of positives. But, yeah, I've enjoyed it."
Fernandez also made an MVP case for Bueckers after that game, calling her "more than deserving" of MVP and All-WNBA First Team consideration.
Dallas Awaits No. 2 Seed in WNBA Playoffs
As the No. 7 seed, Dallas travels to the No. 2 seed for Game 1 of a best-of-three series Sunday. The Golden State Valkyries get that spot with a win Thursday at the Los Angeles Sparks or if the Las Vegas Aces lose at Phoenix. The Aces move up only if they win and the Valkyries lose.
Both tip at 10 p.m. ET.
