ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings are too smart to publicly announce it, but one playoff berth altered the direction of this franchise in a way that it can only guess what might have happened.

By making the playoffs in ‘23, which ended in a semifinals sweep, it kicked them out of the WNBA’s lottery in 2024, and the chance to pick Caitlin Clark.

What Clark has done for the WNBA, and her Indiana Fever, is some biblical phenomenon. This one might not even make the Bible, because no one of any faith would buy it.

The other teams that were “close” to being in a position to pick Clark can, and do, wonder what they would be like if she was on her roster. Clark is some combination of Michael Jordan and Taylor Swift, and while the league has a slew of talented players both currently on active rosters and on their way from the NCAA, no one else is like her.

At the top of the “She Ain’t Caitlin, But Close” list is Paige Bueckers, a player who between her four-year career at UConn and her senior year in Hopkins, Minn., was a combined 158-17 and won every major prize other than a Nobel. She was probably robbed of that, too.

If you can get it in your head who she’s not, and focus on what she is, Bueckers is the best development for this franchise since it relocated from Tulsa to DFW in 2016. For the first time since this team landed in Arlington it has something to attract a wider audience other than the loyal diehards who come to the games because they love basketball, and specifically women’s basketball.

“We are only a month in since the draft, but already we are seeing noticeable positive impacts on the business. Coming off a record 2024 that followed a record 2023, we will significantly surpass all business metric record highs this summer,” Wings CEO Gregg Bibb said.

“We have sold more single ticket revenue in the last month than all of last year. Last year was a record year. Since the draft, we have sold Wings merchandise in 23 different countries outside the United States.”

This is not all because of Paige Bueckers, but it’s close.

The Wings begin their regular season on Friday night in Arlington against Minnesota.

Paige is not 'versus' Caitlin

In a trophy case that is so big it needs its own wing, there is one detail to Buecker’s career that is buried behind all of the awards that says all of this was meant to happen. In high school, Paige played five years of varsity basketball.

As an eighth grader, she was on varsity, a reality that probably crushed a lot of parents' dreams for their own kid who was getting cut up by a 13-year-old. Like Clark, Bueckers has been the best player on nearly every court she has played since she was in elementary school.

The only two areas she does not do as well as Clark are make 3-point shots from Norway, and passing. Clark may already be the best passer and distributor in the history of the game. Clark’s ability to make shots from 26 feet consistently sets her apart from every other women’s player who ever lived.

Between those qualities, and her success at Iowa, helped to create a something that no marketing company, or league, could possibly ever do. And, since we’re on the subject, she’s white.

As a player, Paige Bueckers isn’t that much different than Clark. She’s just not a global phenomenon who will sell out arenas by herself.

Buecker’s new world

Like every player from UConn who made it to the WNBA, or any pro league in Europe, Bueckers will soon become acquainted with losing. They all lose. More than they ever have before.

In her four-year career at Iowa, Clark lost 30 games. In her rookie season in Indiana, she lost 20.

“I’ve come to that realization that I have been blessed and fortunate to be in great situations in high school and college, and it’s different in The W. You don’t see teams going undefeated. You don’t see a lot of single-loss seasons,” Bueckers said during a recent press conference.

“It’s definitely going to be an adjustment. You never want to get used to losing, but you want to get used to learning from games.”

There will be plenty of “learning” this season.

If what happened to Clark in her first season is any indication of what’s coming, Bueckers is a target. She has not gone through a full offseason of professional strength training, and she’s apt to feel the pain many nights this season.

She will also not see the wide talent gap that she routinely enjoyed while at UConn.

But she will eventually win, and transform a professional basketball franchise, just like Clark.

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