DHJ Quick Take: Paige Bueckers Cleared for Sunday’s Road Finale vs. Liberty After Injury Scare
- Dodging an Injury Setback: Guard Paige Bueckers is completely absent from the Dallas Wings’ official injury report, giving her a clean designation for Sunday’s national broadcast matchup against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center.
- The Sideline Evaluation: The designation follows a hard first-half fall during Friday’s 86-69 loss to the Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena. Bueckers was evaluated contextually on the bench by the medical staff before re-entering to log a full starter’s workload of 31 minutes.
- Riding a Rare Health Streak: Sunday marks the fourth consecutive game in which the Dallas front office has turned in a completely clean, no-injury report—a major roster development following the early-season integration of rookie guard Azzi Fudd.
- Hunting a Bounce-Back Output: Bueckers heads into Brooklyn looking to shake off a season-low 7-point outing on 3-of-13 shooting. Despite the cold shooting night in Atlanta, her seasonal baselines remain highly elite, averaging 18.5 points and 5.5 assists on a hyper-efficient 48.0% from beyond the arc.
NEW YORK — Paige Bueckers is not listed on the Dallas Wings‘ injury report ahead of Sunday’s road finale against the New York Liberty, the fourth consecutive game in which Dallas has reported no injuries.
The designation comes two days after Bueckers took a hard fall during the Wings’ 86-69 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Friday at Gateway Center Arena. She was evaluated by the team’s training staff on the sideline before re-entering the game and finishing with seven points, a team-high 7 assists, and 3 turnovers on 3-of-13 shooting in 31 minutes. She was also assessed a technical foul with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
Tip-off Sunday at Barclays Center is set for 2:30 p.m. CT, with national coverage on NBC.
Status Heading Into Sunday
Bueckers’ clean designation indicates she cleared Friday’s sideline evaluation and is available to play. Head coach Jose Fernandez did not pull her down the stretch after the fall, and she logged starter’s minutes through the final buzzer.
The Wings have not listed a player on the injury report in any of their last four games, a stretch that follows the early-season return of guard Azzi Fudd from a right knee issue.
Friday’s seven-point outing was Bueckers’ lowest scoring total of her WNBA career and marked the first time in six games she failed to clear 15 points this season. She is averaging 18.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 32.0 minutes per game on 51.9% shooting from the floor and 48.0% from beyond the arc — efficiency marks that place her among the league’s most productive guards. Her 24-point performance in Wednesday’s win at Chicago and a 27-point, 8-assist outing against Minnesota on May 14 anchor a body of work that includes five 15-plus point games in her first six appearances.
Dallas practiced in New York on Saturday and will play its third game in five days on Sunday.
“We’ve got to have short-term memory,” Sims said after Friday’s loss. “We play New York in less than 48 hours, because we play really early on Sunday.”
Up Next
The Wings (3-3) close their three-game road trip Sunday at the Liberty. Tip-off is 2:30 p.m. CT on NBC.
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