Dallas Wings Open Commissioner’s Cup Play Against The Seattle Storm

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings will open Commissioner’s Cup play Monday when they host the Seattle Storm in the sixth-annual edition of the tournament.

The Wings enter the matchup at 5-3 following an emphatic 95-87 home win against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces last week. Dallas erased a 13-point deficit in front of a sold-out College Park Center for its first win over the Aces since Aug. 27, 2024. Jessica Shepard recorded the first 22-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in WNBA history, and Azzi Fudd added 22 points in her first WNBA start.

A win Monday would give Dallas its best start to a season since the franchise moved to Texas in 2016. The Wings last opened 6-3 in 2015, when the team was based in Tulsa.

Although head-to-head matchups and point differentials carry a little more weight in the Commissioner’s Cup, Dallas’ mindset going into the game hasn’t changed.

“(Our mindset is) not really too different,” Wings forward Maddy Siegrist said. “Obviously every game is extremely important. The Commissioner’s Cup is some heightened competitiveness, but we’re excited for the opportunity tonight.”

A $500,000 Prize on the Line

That heightened competitiveness can be attributed in part to the $500,000 prize that the winning team receives. Although the cup is a regular-season tournament and the results carry no direct playoff implications, the cash prize gives players an excellent incentive to win.

“500k? God damn,” Storm guard Flau’jae Johnson said when told about the prize money. “We are trying to go out there and play, trying to get the money, but really just get better. I feel like we just want to go out there and compete at a high level.”

A Tournament With a Playoff Track Record

The Storm won the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup in 2021, defeating the Connecticut Sun 79-57. Later that season, the fourth-seeded Storm were eliminated in the second round, falling to the Phoenix Mercury 85-80 in overtime.

Since then, Commissioner’s Cup winning teams making deep playoff runs has been a common occurrence. The Aces won the cup in 2022 and went on to win the championship later that season. The New York Liberty won the tournament in 2023 and reached the finals that season, where they lost to the Aces in four games.

The Minnesota Lynx won the Commissioner’s Cup in 2024 before reaching the finals later that season, where they fell to the Liberty in five games. Last season, the Indiana Fever won the cup and made it all the way to the semifinals before succumbing to the Aces in five games.

But while there seems to be a correlation there, Alysha Clark feels it’s more coincidence than anything.

“The two don’t correlate in any way,” Clark said. “It’s not like when people go to the Commissioner’s Cup and win, they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re going to the finals.’ Like that’s not how it works.”

However, Clark still finds value in the tournament as an opportunity to gauge how the team is doing early in the season.

“I think this is a great chance early in the season to kind of test where you are and where your habits are, because at the end of the day, it’s still a championship,” Clark said. “So being able to kind of test that early on in the season to see where you need to continue to grow and where you can continue to hone in and make that a part of your identity I think is great.”

Dallas Leans Into Pace Against a Slower Seattle

One of the areas that Dallas is aiming to make a key part of its identity is playing the game at a fast pace. Although the Wings rank third in pace and first in fast-break points per game, they are working to speed up their half-court offense even more.

“(We’ve been working on) just getting into things quicker,” Siegrist said. “Cutting, setting screens, just into it with some pace and just really putting pressure on the defense that way.”

This is the opposite of their opponent’s style of play, as the Storm rank second-to-last in pace this season. But when asked if this has contributed to their 3-6 start, Johnson said that for her, defense and inexperience has been more of a cause for their woes and once that improves, offense will naturally follow.

“We got a lot of young players, everybody is trying to figure out what to do,” Johnson said. “I think it’s kind of just building better habits for me, just on the defensive end and taking pride in that. I think once you figure out that side, offense will kind of take care of itself.”

Seattle arrives off a 93-72 road loss to the Toronto Tempo on Saturday. The Storm are in their first season under head coach Sonia Raman, who spent last season as an assistant with the New York Liberty.

Arike Ogunbowale Wary of a Capable Storm

But even with Seattle’s record, Dallas isn’t underestimating them. Seattle holds a 7-3 edge over Dallas in their last 10 regular-season meetings dating to 2023, and the Wings are seeking their first regular-season home win over the Storm since Sept. 8, 2023.

“No matter what the record is in the WNBA…any given night anybody could win because everybody’s a really good player,” Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale said. “We definitely want to focus on us and go handle business, but we need to know that they obviously have players over there that are very capable. If they’re playing well and we’re not, they can beat us.”

However, even though the players are approaching the matchup as business as usual, there is still some excitement about beginning Commissioner’s Cup play.

“Who wouldn’t want to play for a championship during the season as well,” Siegrist said. “But I think we’ve just got to take it one game at a time. Obviously there’s a lot of great teams and everyone’s going to want to be there.”

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