‘Positioned To Be Very Aggressive’: How Dallas Wings Executed Curt Miller’s Vision Laid For Offseason Moves

ARLINGTON, Texas — Last August, Curt Miller sat down with Dallas Hoops Journal when the Dallas Wings had an 8-23 record before finishing 10-34, with one of the youngest rosters in the league. He laid out exactly what this offseason was going to look like — the cap flexibility, the veteran acquisitions, the over-offers when needed, the asset portfolio ready to deploy, and the franchise cornerstones in Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale that all of it was being built around.

Every word of it has come true. And the Wings have not even made the No. 1 overall pick yet.

The Blueprint, Stated Out Loud

Miller was specific last August about how the financial architecture of the rebuild would translate into action when free agency opened.

“We’re going to have a really young core group to build with,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Why that’s important is they’ll be on inexpensive or less expensive contracts, which gives us flexibility in free agency to make really competitive offers — maybe even an over-offer when needed — to acquire veteran talent around that young core. With the amount of young people who could be on our roster, it positions us to be very competitive with our cap moving forward.”

He was equally direct about how loaded the 2026 market would be and how deliberately Dallas was positioning itself to be first in line.

“It’s fair to say that we will probably have 11 players that will either be under contract or reserved going into this free agency before the expansion draft,” Miller said to Dallas Hoops Journal. “That cap space allows you to be really aggressive in a year that has a lot of free agents. A lot of players are going to be free agents. And so we’re really positioned to be really aggressive in 2026 to make our team better.”

He also made clear the Wings were not just thinking about one offseason. The asset portfolio he was building had a longer horizon.

“Our three first-round picks over the next two years are very important for our build,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “We also intentionally have extra assets in 2027 — two first-rounders and two second-rounders.”

The reasoning behind that stockpile was equally deliberate. Miller described exactly how Dallas planned to use those picks when the right opportunity emerged.

“A lot of players in this upcoming free agency will sign two-, three-, or four-year deals,” Miller explained to Dallas Hoops Journal. “It’s almost certain that some will not be good fits, whether they’re unhappy with playing time or style, or vice versa, from the organization’s standpoint. While there may not be many 2027 free agents because of what’s going to happen in 2026, we can be nimble with four draft picks in 2027. That positions us to make moves for players who might be in poor fits elsewhere and whose franchises are open to change.”

That is a general manager thinking two to three moves ahead. Everything that has happened this offseason so far reflects exactly that kind of sequencing.

Alanna Smith Is the Vision Personified

Nothing illustrates the plan coming together more clearly than the signing of Alanna Smith.

The reigning WNBA Co-Defensive Player of the Year is joining Dallas on a three-year maximum contract after back-to-back standout seasons with the Minnesota Lynx. In 2025, Smith appeared and started in all 42 regular-season games, averaging 9.6 points on 48.5% shooting, along with 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.3 steals in 26.3 minutes per contest. She finished third in the league in blocks with 80 — a Lynx single-season franchise record and the eighth-highest total in WNBA history — and closed the regular season as the only player in the league to record at least 400 points, 200 rebounds, 100 assists, 80 blocks, and 50 three-point field goals.

Miller made clear this was not opportunistic. It was targeted.

“Alanna Smith was our top target going into free agency after her outstanding 2025 season,” Miller said. “As the reigning Co-Defensive Player of the Year, she is one of the top two-way players in the WNBA who consistently impacts both sides of the ball. From a defensive standpoint, Alanna gives our coaching staff unbelievable versatility — she can play multiple coverages and drastically affect shots around the paint. Offensively, we are excited to pair her with our outstanding guards, showcasing her ability to play inside or outside. Ultimately, she possesses the personal character that we wanted to add to our locker room — where we want to win first.”

That character component connects directly to something Miller emphasized eight months earlier.

“The culture in the locker room is also important,” he told Dallas Hoops Journal last August. “Our players are genuinely close, which is rare for a losing team. We intentionally put great humans in that room, but now we need to raise our talent level.”

Smith raises it significantly. She also arrives with built-in chemistry — she competed alongside Arike Ogunbowale and Li Yueru on Mist BC at Unrivaled this past offseason, contributing 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game as the club won the 2026 championship.

Jessica Shepard Fills the Gaps the Plan Anticipated

Jessica Shepard‘s signing is a different kind of move — not a marquee acquisition but precisely the type of high-efficiency veteran Miller described when laying out how Dallas would deploy cap space around a young core.

Shepard led the WNBA in field goal percentage in 2025 at 63.8% while appearing in 40 games for Minnesota and averaging 8.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. She finished third in Sixth Player of the Year voting. During the past offseason, she played for Schio in Italy’s Serie A1, averaging 16.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while leading the Euroleague in rebounding, double-doubles, and efficiency. In Greece, the prior season, she swept every major individual award available.

“The Wings are ecstatic about the signing of Jessica Shepard to a multi-year deal,” Miller said. “She was a priority for us in free agency because of her versatility offensively. She is a fantastic passer and facilitator, along with being an incredible scorer around the rim. We were also drawn to her because of her high basketball IQ, which we can’t wait to pair with our exciting young core of players.”

Shepard also reunites with a familiar face. She and Ogunbowale were Notre Dame teammates for two seasons, from 2017 to 2019, and won the 2018 NCAA national championship together. Paired with Awak Kuier — who returned after leading the Euroleague in blocks for Galatasaray this past season while shooting 59.3% from the field and 40.9% from three — Dallas now has three legitimate frontcourt contributors heading into 2026. Miller flagged Kuier specifically last August as one of the most exciting players in the organization’s future, even while she was still overseas.

“One of the most exciting players to talk about is Awak Kuier, who isn’t here,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “There’s just a lot of young people to continue to build with in the future.”

She is here now.

Arike Ogunbowale Called It Too

The buy-in from Dallas’ best players was not something Miller manufactured this spring. It was already there last August — and he described it in detail.

“Paige wants to be involved in recruiting players to Dallas. Arike also initiates free agency conversations with me,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “It’s exciting that your two best players consistently want to talk future. She’ll pick up the phone and call me — ‘What about so-and-so?’ I think she’s been through the good times, she’s been through some of the building years. She means a lot to this franchise, and she means a lot to me personally. We’re really excited about Arike. Since the All-Star break, you see the way she and Paige communicate. You can hear them speaking the same language. That’s been exciting for us.”

Ogunbowale re-signed on a multi-year deal, taking less than her $1.4 million supermax qualifying offer to give the front office more room to work. That is a star putting her money where her conversations with her GM had been for months. She averaged 15.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists across 29 games in 2025 while managing a knee injury that cut her season short — and enters 2026 healthy, motivated, and with a talented roster around her.

The Financial Architecture Behind It All

None of this happens without the cap work that preceded it. The Diamond Miller trade captures the philosophy in miniature — her $536,588 salary went to Connecticut, Rayah Marshall came back at $277,500, and Dallas pocketed at least $259,088, with a path to clearing the full amount. Not a headline move. Exactly the right one. Multiply that logic across a full roster over a full year, and suddenly you have the room to sign the reigning Defensive Player of the Year to a max deal when the market opens.

And Dallas still has its asset portfolio intact. Two first-round picks and two second-round picks in 2027 give the Wings the ability to move quickly if a high-caliber player becomes available — exactly the scenario Miller described last August as the next layer of the build.

The Expansion Draft and What It Meant

Miller knew long before draft night that the expansion process would cost him someone he valued. After the Wings secured the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery, he was candid about what was coming.

“We’re going to lose players that you don’t necessarily want to lose in an expansion draft,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of unknowns, and we have a couple other big, big moments before the draft. We have an expansion draft… and then you’ve got unprecedented free agency before you even get to the collegiate draft in April.”

He acknowledged the decisions kept him up at night. “League-wide, we have a difficult decision on protections. I’m not the only GM that’s going to have sleepless nights.”

The Wings’ youth-heavy roster — stocked with players on rookie-scale deals — made Dallas more vulnerable than most franchises heading into the selection process. When the Portland Fire made their picks, they claimed Luisa Geiselsöder and Haley Jones. Miller acknowledged the losses directly.

“The Expansion Draft is always a tough day for organizations,” Miller said. “While planning has been in place for months, the reality of losing players that you value and believe in is always difficult. Losing Luisa and Haley is no exception. Luisa and Haley contributed on and off the court to our culture and both have bright futures.”

Geiselsöder averaged 6.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists across 28 games in her WNBA debut season. Jones averaged career bests of 8.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.8 steals across 24 appearances. Both losses stung. Both were anticipated. The veteran additions of Smith, Kuier, and Shepard give Dallas the frontcourt depth to absorb them.

The Young Core That Stays

While the veteran additions have generated the headlines, what Dallas kept matters just as much as what it acquired.

Yueru accepted her qualifying offer, returning as a restricted free agent. Last August, Miller had envisioned her and Geiselsöder as a developing pair of stretch bigs capable of spacing the floor around the Wings’ young core — but with Geiselsöder now in Portland, Yueru carries that role forward alongside a dramatically upgraded frontcourt around her.

“Our young bigs, they give us spacing threes between Luisa and Li when we needed so much to increase our three-point attempts and increase our three-point shooting,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “Both of them are talented stretch post players who are great teammates and are only gonna get better.”

Guards Aziaha James and JJ Quinerly — two of last season’s rookies — return as well, bringing a year of genuine hardship experience that Miller said would prove invaluable.

Quinerly appeared in 34 games — 13 as a starter — and averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. Her July in particular stood out to Miller.

“JJ Quinerly‘s July was incredible — third-leading rookie scorer that month, second in assists behind Paige, shooting efficiently from all areas, with a nearly 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.

James appeared in 38 games, averaging 7.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per contest, showing flashes of her scoring ceiling while Miller acknowledged consistency remained the next step.

“Aziaha James was the sixth-leading rookie scorer in July and has shown she can score 15-20 points in a game, though she needs more consistency, especially defensively,” he said.

Forward Maddy Siegrist returns as well, averaging 12.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.8 assists across 26 games before injuries disrupted her season.

“Maddy Siegrist‘s injury was difficult because she has a knack for scoring,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “She was poised to be in the Sixth Player of the Year discussion or help significantly in the starting lineup when injuries hit.”

Together, these players form exactly the second unit Miller described last August as part of the franchise’s pitch to free agents — young, battle-tested, and hungry.

“Even if they turn and morph into our second unit, their experience that they’ve gained this year is going to be invaluable,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal.

The Pitch Worked

Miller spent last August detailing why Dallas would be an attractive destination for free agents beyond just basketball reasons. He pointed to the franchise’s upcoming development of a practice facility, featuring two full-size courts, on-site chefs, 24/7 access, and medical resources he called top-third in the league. He pointed to the planned move downtown to Dallas and something players and agents calculate carefully.

“Dallas is a great market for players to build their brands and lives, with no state income tax, making salaries stretch further,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal. “It’s a factor players, and their agents have to consider because of how much extra money it puts in their pockets.”

Smith, Shepard, and Kuier all chose Dallas in an open market. The pitch worked.

Paige Bueckers Is the Constant

Through all of it, Paige Bueckers is coming off 19.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in a Rookie of the Year season, and every move Dallas has made traces back to her.

Miller saw this coming, too.

“Paige will be a unifier, someone players want to play with,” he told Dallas Hoops Journal last August. “Our young core will make us attractive, too. Players will see these young, great teammates and think, ‘That’s our second unit, I want to be a part of that.'”

He also described how Bueckers’ versatility would give the roster construction flexibility that most teams cannot replicate.

“Paige’s efficiency and versatility give us a lot of flexibility in roster construction,” Miller said to Dallas Hoops Journal. “She enjoys being off the ball and then brought back into actions, not worn down by defensive point guards pressuring her full court. She works well with a true point guard. At the same time, Paige can be on the ball in bigger lineups, allowing for some big-guard looks.”

Now pair that with Ogunbowale’s scoring, Smith’s two-way impact, Kuier’s rim protection and versatility, and Shepard’s interior efficiency. That is a roster built to make Bueckers’ job easier.

Up Next for the Dallas Wings

And now Monday. Dallas holds the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft on April 13, along with the No. 31 overall selection. Whatever the Wings add will land on top of a foundation that already includes Ogunbowale, Bueckers, Smith, Kuier, and Shepard — with two first-rounders and two second-rounders in 2027 still in reserve if the right opportunity emerges.

Miller has already signaled that the class is deep at the top and that Dallas has options.

“There are six prospects that have really separated,” Miller told Dallas Hoops Journal after winning the lottery. “It covers the gamut. You have a great passer and leader at point guard. One of the best shooters with one of the fastest releases. A transition player who thrives in the full court. A big-time scorer who’s led the nation. Two post players projected in the top six. An international young phenom who is still 19. Lauren Betts with her size at UCLA.”

He also made clear the selection will go beyond on-court fit.

“A great character piece,” Miller said. “Someone who’s going to champion the locker room and represent us on the court and in the community. Someone who can galvanize as we transition into new facilities in Dallas. We want someone who will grind day in and day out.”

Last August, Miller laid out the blueprint in precise detail. The Wings have executed every piece of it — and the draft has not even happened yet.

Dallas opens the 2026 season on the road against the Indiana Fever on Saturday, May 9, at noon CT, before making their home debut at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, May 12, at 7 p.m. against the Atlanta Dream.

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