OGUNBOWALE BACKS BUECKERS FOR ALL-WNBA FIRST TEAM

Arike Ogunbowale called for her Dallas Wings teammate Paige Bueckers to be named to the All-WNBA First Team after the Wings' 2026 season ended with a 73-77 defeat to the Golden State Valkyries. Speaking alongside Bueckers in a postgame press conference shown on the WNBA's YouTube channel, Ogunbowale said Bueckers had been a "generational player" who had "willed" the team through the season and suggested the First Team selection process would be "rigged" if her teammate was left out. Bueckers finished as the Wings' leading scorer in the 2026 regular season. The team won a franchise-record 27 games and secured the seventh seed in the playoffs, an improvement on a combined 19 wins across the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Bueckers set franchise single-season records for both points and assists, scoring 878 points to surpass Ogunbowale's previous mark of 849 from 2023, and recording 247 assists to beat Skylar Diggins' prior record of 199. She also logged more points across the first two seasons of her career than any other player in WNBA history, reaching 1,570, and became the fastest player to 1,400 points and 400 assists, achieving the mark in 72 games. Her season averages stood at 20.9 points and 5.9 assists, with her three-point shooting improving from 33.1% as a rookie to 41%.

Bueckers' playoff form dropped off after a strong start, in which she scored 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting in Dallas' Game 1 loss to the Valkyries, before her form declined over the following two games. The Wings were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round following the series defeat to Golden State. No date has been given for when the WNBA's All-WNBA Team selections will be announced.