Olympics: Basketball-Men Semifinal - FRA-GER - Source: Imagn — Sue Bird (standing) sees a great fit for Paige Bueckers in Dallas with Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally. (photo: Imagn)

Sue Bird gives early hot take on Paige Bueckers pairing with Dallas Wings’ All-Star duo

Modified Nov 21, 2024 07:31 GMT

Megan Rapinoe, in her podcast with Sue Bird, called the 2024 WNBA draft lottery the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes, which the Dallas Wings won. Dallas took the No. 1 slot from the LA Sparks, who had a 44.2% chance to win the lottery. The Wings are expected to get the UConn star in next year’s draft.

Bird gave her take on the “A Touch More: The Podcast” about Bueckers’ potential fit in Dallas (22:32 mark):

“If you want to look at Big 3s across the league, if Dallas has Paige (Bueckers) because of the No. 1 pick, Arike (Ogunbowale) is already there and they re-sign Satou (Sabally), that Big 3, will be up there with other Big 3s.”

For Dallas, the key to building the Big 3 Sue Bird talked about is getting back Satou Sabally, who's an unrestricted free agent. Sabally saw limited action last year due to injury but played well on her return. She has said on TikTok that she's looking at a “summer of changes."

If Sabally signs with another team, the Wings could attract other free agents like Natasha Howard or Alyssa Thomas if they have Paige Bueckers. The backcourt pairing of Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale is expected to be one of the best 1-2 options next season.

Sue Bird sees only good things happening for the Dallas Wings, with Bueckers and Ogunbowale on the roster.

Sue Bird interested to see who will coach the Dallas Wings next season

Bird is excited to see a new Big 3 in Dallas but is more interested to know who will coach the Wings next season. The team fired Latricia Trammell after two seasons. After leading the Wings to the semis in 2023, they finished with a 9-31 record.

The Wing hired former LA Sparks coach Curt Miller as the new general manager. It’s anybody’s guess who Miller will ask to take over Trammell’s role. Sue Bird said about potential hires (27:00 mark):

“More than anything I’m keeping my eye out on these coaches. Now, I wanna know, who is Dallas gonna hire? … LA, DC, they’re off to hire [a new coach]. The Atlanta Dream did hire Karl Smesko.”

After winning the draft lottery, Bird is sure the Wings wouldn’t have a tough time finding Latricia Trammell’s replacement.