‘Multiple Efforts’: Elite On Offense, The Dallas Wings’ Next Step Is Defense

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings have built one of the WNBA’s most productive offenses through eight games, leading the league in assists and ranking second in 3-point percentage. Head coach Jose Fernandez and his players have been clear about where the next jump has to come, and it is on the other end of the floor.

Dallas sits at 5-3, and while the offense has carried the early season, Fernandez and his players have repeatedly identified defense as the team’s biggest area for growth. He has stressed that the work on that end is far from finished, even as the team has won two straight and climbed to fourth in the standings.

What Needs to Improve

Fernandez has not let the team’s start lower his standard. He holds high expectations for the group, says his players want to be pushed and held accountable, and keeps steering the conversation back to defense even as the wins pile up.

“Our growth has to be on the defensive end. We’ve got to be able to guard one-on-one, keep the ball in front of us, keep it on the third side, defend pick-and-roll situations a lot better than we have been,” Fernandez said.

The numbers frame the gap. Dallas owns the league’s best offensive rating at 112.7 points per 100 possessions, while its defensive rating of 107.3 ranks 12th of 15 teams. Fernandez has been careful to credit the offense rather than dismiss it, saying the group can be even better on that end and that it gives the team a foundation to build on while the defense catches up.

The tracking data points to where the issues have been. The Wings have struggled most in transition, ranking in the bottom percentile defending the break and allowing a 68.4% effective field-goal mark when opponents run. They have given up too much off the catch as well, ranking in the 7th percentile against spot-up possessions and surrendering 1.27 points per possession on unguarded catch-and-shoot looks. At the rim, opponents have made 62.8% of their attempts, which lines up with Dallas allowing the most paint points in the league.

Fernandez drew a contrast between the two ends. Communicating and connecting comes more naturally on offense, he said, when the ball is in a player’s hands and moving one direction, while the defensive version is harder and largely goes unseen. Players have pointed to that communication as the biggest lever.

Maddy Siegrist said it solves more than any single adjustment.

“Communication, definitely the biggest thing. Communication solves a lot of problems,” Siegrist said.

Fernandez pointed to the harder details that do not show up in the box score.

“For us to be great, most importantly regarding guarding, it’s multiple efforts and anticipating the next plays and going out and rebounding out of your area,” Fernandez said. “Little by little, that’s something that we’re trying to work on every day to improve on.”

Signs of Progress

The trend is encouraging. Over the five games since a loss to Minnesota, the Wings have tightened their defensive rating to 105.4, eighth in the league, and gone 4-1. The data shows where the work is paying off, with Dallas grading in the 100th percentile defending the pick-and-roll roll man and holding opponents to 32% on off-the-dribble jumpers.

Arike Ogunbowale said the half-court defense is further along than it gets credit for.

“Honestly, I think our half-court defense is pretty good. We’re able to talk, we’re able to rotate,” Ogunbowale said.

The clearest example came in Thursday’s 95-87 comeback win over the Las Vegas Aces. Las Vegas shot 52.5% in the first half and scored at will inside, but Dallas clamped down after the break, holding the Aces to 35.7% in the second half and winning the final two quarters by 16.

The fix started with the pick-and-roll. Dallas moved its bigs higher in ball-screen coverage and tagged the roller with a post defender rather than pulling a smaller player into the lane.

“Tagging from a post and exiting out and rotating, I think our pick-and-roll defense has gotten a lot better since the Minnesota game,” Fernandez said.

Paige Bueckers said the bigs set the tone in the second half, with Awak Kuier‘s length letting Dallas guard the screener and the ball-handler with one defender.

“Our bigs did a great job. We adjusted in the second half of being more up to touch and being more up in the ball screens,” Bueckers said. “And especially with K, she just is so long that she can guard two at times.”

Behind that, the Wings switched on the backside and committed to multiple-effort rotations against A’ja Wilson, who cooled after a hot first half. Fernandez tied the stops to communication.

“We switch it on the backside. It’s a credit to talking about that in timeouts,” Fernandez said. “Because when they have guards that can get you on their hip and start to get downhill while holding you with shooters, the rotation becomes a multiple-effort rotation. And they did that.”

Bueckers said the turnaround came from connectivity rather than individual matchups.

“Just being connected and less worried about our man and less worried about what our player’s going to do, but guarding the ball,” Bueckers said. “To shrink the floor, to build a wall, to be in gaps, to try to make everything tough and take tough twos, mid-range twos, some contested threes, and just contesting the paint.”

Losing Awak Kuier, Adding a Defensive Player of the Year

The defensive personnel is shifting as the push continues. Kuier, whose length anchored the second-half adjustment against Las Vegas, has been ruled out for Monday with a right wrist injury, and her absence is a real subtraction on that end.

Dallas owns a team-best plus-24.5 net rating with Kuier on the floor this season, and the gap is driven largely by defense, where the Wings’ rating improves from 111.7 points allowed per 100 possessions with her off the court to 95.4 with her on.

For now, the Wings will have to absorb that loss. Helping offset it is the return of Alanna Smith, the reigning WNBA Co-Defensive Player of the Year, who practiced each of the past two days after an illness kept her out against Las Vegas.

Smith shared the 2025 award with Wilson and signed a three-year deal with the Wings in the offseason as one of the league’s top two-way players. Her versatility and ability to guard across positions give Dallas an anchor as it tries to take the step Fernandez keeps pointing to.

The Seattle Test

The next measuring stick comes Monday, when Dallas opens Commissioner’s Cup play against a Seattle Storm team that prefers to grind games in the half court. Fernandez said the priority is the same one he has stressed all week.

“We need to be able to continue to keep the ball in front of us and guard one-on-one, and making sure when we do get beat off the bounce, we’re a help concept,” Fernandez said.

The Wings (5-3) host the Storm on Monday at College Park Center.

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