Wings are eyeing a major win-now move to help Paige Bueckers

Jeremy Beren

Wings are eyeing a major win-now move to help Paige Bueckers image

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Wings have a 19-65 win-loss record over the past two seasons, a full four games worse than any other team. With Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers already announcing herself as a star in the WNBA, the clock is ticking all of a sudden in Dallas: the Wings are feeling the pressure to build a winning team.

On Sept. 30, Dallas dismissed head coach Chris Koclanes after one disappointing season in charge. General manager Curt Miller had worked with Koclanes during Miller's stint as the head coach of the Connecticut Sun; Koclanes was the defensive specialist on staff, but he could not translate those qualities to the Wings' players in 2025.

So it is back to the drawing board in Dallas -- and according to a new report, the Wings want a championship-caliber leader as their next head coach.

MORE: Sandy Brondello's shocking firing could be good news for Wings' Paige Bueckers

Longtime NBA insider Jake Fischer has said the Wings have no interest in hiring another coach without experience in the top job -- at least, not since Sandy Brondello shockingly became available.

Brondello, fired by the New York Liberty last month, is a two-time WNBA champion who ranks second in wins among active head coaches -- and she has emerged as a top target in Dallas, just one year after leading the Liberty to their first title in franchise history, following a wait of more than a quarter-century.

With the potential to select another highly-touted player at or near the top of the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Wings' brightening future could get even more exciting with the appointment of a coach that Minnesota's Cheryl Reeve has called "championship-level." 

Pairing Brondello with Bueckers would be a major boost for a franchise that has won just one playoff series since its move from Tulsa in 2016, while reinforcing Dallas' commitment to constructing a championship contender around Bueckers, a likely WNBA MVP in the future.

MORE WNBA NEWS:

Jeremy Beren

Jeremy Beren is a freelance WNBA writer with The Sporting News. A Phoenix native, he is a graduate of Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and he has a decade’s worth of sports journalism experience. Jeremy's work has appeared in publications such as Marca, SB Nation, Athlon Sports and Vice Sports. He currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.