Dallas Wings secure final WNBA playoff berth with 23rd win - ESPN

The Dallas Wings claimed the eighth and final WNBA playoff spot Tuesday with their 96-78 victory over the visiting Portland Fire, sending star guard Paige Bueckers to the postseason for the first time.

Dallas (23-16) will join Minnesota, Golden State, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Indiana, New York and Washington in the postseason. The Wings have missed the playoffs the past two seasons but are back in coach Jose Fernandez's first year with Dallas.

The Fire join fellow expansion team Toronto outside the postseason, along with Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Connecticut and Seattle.

Bueckers, the 2025 No. 1 pick, was Rookie of the Year last season despite the Wings finishing tied for last at 10-34. This season has been a big turnaround.

«It means a lot, just in terms of all we've overcome throughout this season and how we did it together,» said Bueckers, who had 22 points and 11 assists Tuesday. «We want to keep building and don't want to get complacent just clinching the playoffs.»

This year, the Wings added free agent post player Jessica Shepard, who is having a career-best season, and another No. 1 pick in Azzi Fudd. Tuesday, Shepard had 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Guard Arike Ogunbowale, the longest-tenured Dallas player in her eighth season with the Wings, had 17 points. Forward Awak Kuier, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft who opted to play overseas the past two seasons but returned to the WNBA this year, had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Fudd is out for the remainder of this season for an arthroscopic procedure, but she helped the Wings get this far by averaging 13.1 points in her 30 games.

«We're missing Azzi, who was our best perimeter defender and how she stretched the floor [on offense],» Fernandez said.