The Dallas Wings continued their slide after the All-Star Break as the Las Vegas Aces avenged their July 23 loss to Paige Bueckers and her squad 106-80. Despite the dominant 26-point win, however, Las Vegas’ legendary center, A’ja Wilson, was all praises for Bueckers, who had been carrying Dallas despite the dismal 7-19 record so far.
TCU insider Melissa Triebwasser caught up with A’ja Wilson, who was a former South Carolina Gamecock, and asked her what she thought about Paige Bueckers, who like Wilson, won a national title just before heading over to the WNBA. Bueckers was a former UConn Husky.
“I think the biggest thing that has impressed me with Paige is she plays with her own rhythm and her own beat and she allows her own teammates to come along and play alongside her in tht space. You can’t really rush her. She’s not really slow,” Wilson said.
“There’s just this pace and this rhythm that she plays with that I haven’t really seen in a rookie in a minute,” she added. “Because it’s hard, it’s difficult, You’re in another space, different team, different league, so it’s kinda hard to maintain that. She always had tht in college, but to see her not even get shaken through that speaks volumes.
Wilson had a double-double that night, getting 14 points with 10 rebounds with seven assists. As for Paige Bueckers, the Dallas Wings decided to rest their star rookie against the former champs. However, Bueckers is expected to be back in the active roster when they take on Sabrina Ionescu and the defending champions New York Liberty.
Dallas Wings Head Coach Explains Paige Bueckers’ Absence vs. A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces
As for the the exact reason Paige Bueckers missed that showdown against A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces, Wings head coach Chris Koclanes admitted that they just wanted to rest Bueckers up after an intense schedule, which sees the Wings take on the last two WNBA champions back to back. This was described as an “insane stretch” of games by Koclanes, with Dallas playing five games in eight days.
“It’s an insane stretch that we’re in right now,” Chris Koclanes said.
Paige Bueckers had an injury scare earlier this year, hurting her right knee and missed a game against the Washington Mystics on June 28. It was soon revealed that the rookie suffers from patellar tendonitis, which needs constant management and does not go away entirely.
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