Arike Ogunbowale had a simple message after learning the Dallas Wings had won the 2025 WNBA Draft lottery, potentially pairing the star with Paige Bueckers.
Coming into the draft lottery, the Los Angeles Sparks were most likely to get the No. 1 overall pick by virtue of having the worst record in 2024 and having one of the worst records in 2023. However, the Wings owned the rights to swap first round picks with the Chicago Sky after a 2023 trade, giving Dallas a 45.4 percent chance to win the lottery, ahead of Los Angeles (44.2 percent).
That said, the Wings were awarded the No. 1 pick with the Sparks, Sky and Washington Mystics rounding out the top four. After it was clear Dallas essentially won the Bueckers sweepstakes, Ogunbowale couldn’t help but express her excitement on social media.
- Dallas Wings wins Paige Bueckers sweepstakes after WNBA Draft Lottery results made clear
- Geno Auriemma has sounded clear WNBA warning to women’s college basketball bosses
“I just fell to my knees. THANK YOU LORD!” Ogunbowale wrote on X with four crying emojis, seemingly as a way to express her happiness. With Bueckers seemingly in tow, the Wings will have a formidable backcourt duo that could propel Dallas to an playoff berth as soon as next season.
With the college basketball season underway, Ogunbowale had high praise for Bueckers. During an appearance on the ‘We Need to Talk Now’ podcast, the Wings star shared which college stars she was most looking forward to watch this season, with the UConn leader being one of them.
“I love JuJu [Watkins],” she began, per SportSkeeda. “[I] love Paige. I love Kiki Rice. I’m excited to see her play this year. I love Flau’jae [Johnson]. There’s a lot of players. I think these past couple years I haven’t been that excited about college basketball.”
Arike Ogunbowale had a simple message after hearing the Dallas Wings won the 2025 WNBA Draft lottery (
Photo by Michael Hickey/NBAE via Getty Images)
With Bueckers all but headed to Dallas, that gives the Wings another star guard to pair with Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale is a confident shooter, seemingly unfraid of putting up shots.
For her career, the 27-year-old is averaging 20.6 points per game on 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc, to go along with 3.9 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game for her career. The four-time All-Star also is a two-time All-Star MVP, showing her pedigree as the number one option on a team.
That said, Bueckers’ role with the Wings surely will be different from the one she played at UConn. With Ogunbowale firmly entrenched as the main option on offense, the 23-year-old will be drafted into a situation where her rebounding and facilitating will play a larger role than her scoring.
Alongside Bueckers and Ogunbowale will be fellow stars Satou Sabally, Maddy Siegrist, Natasha Howard and Teaira McCowen. The biggest question mark of the group is Sabally, with the German forward often battling injuries, limiting her production.
When Sabally plays, she is a difference maker, as evidenced by her two All-Star nods, though her most recent All-Star selection was in 2023, the season she played 38 games, the most in her career. With a lineup full of talent, the Wings could make noise this upcoming season, if all goes according to plan for Dallas.
For now, the first step for Curt Miller, the general manager and executive vice president of the Wings, is to determine if Bueckers is truly the pick the team wants to select.
Leave a Reply