Paige Bueckers blows kiss to Sky bench during Wings’ comeback win
The Dallas Wings won their fifth straight game by coming from behind to beat the Chicago Sky 96-91 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday, July 12.
In the process, Wings All-Star guard Paige Bueckers drained a jumper and kindly blew a kiss to the Sky’s bench:
During a back-and-forth fourth quarter, Bueckers also chirped at Sky veteran guard Natasha Cloud, which she was asked about postgame.
“That’s just raw passion, raw love for the game,” the 2025 No. 1 pick and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year said. “Two people that have a ton of love and respect for each other. That both just want to win and are competitors at heart. The dialogue back and forth between us is in the love of the game and us just going at each other and voicing that. It’s fun. It’s fun to play that way and to not mistake that for any disrespect.”
Bueckers finished with 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting and 11 assists. She’s averaging 20.6 points per game this season, good for fourth overall in the WNBA. Earlier this month, Bueckers was voted as an All-Star starter — her second straight All-Star nod — for the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago on July 25.
The Wings are in a different galaxy from this time last year. Dallas was 6-17 at the All-Star break in 2025 and finished the season with a league-worst 10-34 record. The Wings subsequently selected Azzi Fudd, Bueckers’ former UConn teammate, with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Drafting Fudd, signing free-agent forward Jessica Shepard, and hiring first-year head coach Jose Fernandez has been a winning recipe around Bueckers in Dallas so far. The Wings are 16-8 and will next host the New York Liberty (13-11) on Thursday, July 16.
