‘I Knew This Was The Vision’: Jessica Shepard’s Free Agency Diligence Is Paying Off In Dallas

BROOKLYN, New York — Free agency pitches are easy to make and hard to keep. Jessica Shepard said she treated hers as due diligence before she ever signed with the Dallas Wings, and three months in, she has not had reason to second-guess the process.

“When I came here in the offseason, after talking with the players who were returning, ownership from top to bottom, Curt and the coaching staff, I knew this was the vision. We also knew it wouldn’t happen overnight,” Shepard said. “We’re still working every day to become a better team. The fun part is seeing the growth happen in real time with a mix of veterans and young players.”

The Diligence Behind The Decision

Shepard’s answer names four distinct groups she said she heard from before deciding to sign: players already on the roster, ownership, general manager Curt Miller, and the coaching staff. That is a wider circle than a single tactical pitch about her role on the court. It reads as an organizational buy-in check, the kind of homework a veteran free agent does when she is choosing not just a role but a group of people to trust with the next stage of her career.

Three months later, the record has caught up to the sales pitch. Dallas is 14-8 entering Friday’s game, the best start through 22 games in franchise history, and sits fourth in the standings.

Shepard has been central to that, averaging 14.6 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists across all 22 games while shooting 58.9% from the field, numbers that have made her a first-time All-Star this season. Her own framing of the offseason conversations suggests she was signing on to something bigger than her individual fit, but the individual fit has clearly worked, too.

Still Building, By Her Own Description

Shepard was careful to note that she had signed up for a process, not a finished product.

“We also knew it wouldn’t happen overnight,” Shepard said, a line that reads differently against a 14-8 record than it would have in the preseason. She described the current stretch as a mix of veterans and young players still growing together, not a team that has already arrived.

Awak Kuier, the No. 2 pick in Dallas’ 2021 draft who spent the past two seasons playing professionally in Italy and Turkey before signing to return to the Wings for 2026, echoed the sentiment when asked what the team’s success has meant to her.

“I agree with everything Jess said, but the biggest thing for me is that I’ve been having fun. It’s been fun being on the court and playing with my teammates,” Kuier said.

Dallas continues its road trip against the Toronto Tempo on Friday in Montreal, another data point in a build she said she signed up for before it was doing this.