Jessica Shepard recorded three assists in the Dallas Wings’ 89-76 win against the Toronto Tempo. Two of those three assists went to Paige Bueckers. First, Shepard brought the ball up about one minute into the first quarter, got a screen from Bueckers, and found her for an open 3-pointer. Then, late in the second quarter, she found Bueckers on a baseline cut to the rim for an and-one.
Bueckers returned the favor when she delivered a perfectly placed pass to Shepard for a transition layup with about seven minutes left in the second quarter. The two All-Star starters have a great connection on the court, and the reason for that chemistry is simple, according to Shepard.
“I think Paige and I have a great connection on the court,” Shepard said in the postgame media availability, per a recording on the Wings’ YouTube channel. “I think it’s just because we both play basketball the right way, and, obviously, that makes it really easy to make the reads that I do make, and she’s a great cutter, so it helps.”
Paige Bueckers’s first season with the Wings was a successful individual campaign. She was voted an All-Star starter, won Rookie of the Year, and made the All-WNBA Second Team. However, with a 10-34 record, the Wings found little success as a team outside of winning the lottery for a second straight year.
The organization was determined to change that in Bueckers’s second season. They hired a new head coach, re-signed Arike Ogunbowale, and lured away two of the Minnesota Lynx’s three most important frontcourt players with big star-level contracts. While Alanna Smith has struggled with a broken nose and a concussion to start the season, Jessica Shepard is having a career year.
Shepard’s ability to fill up the stat sheet is nothing new. She showed it with the Lynx on several occasions, but she has an opportunity to do it regularly with the Wings that she didn’t have when she played behind Napheesa Collier in Minnesota. Shepard averages 14.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 5 assists as the Wings’ second-leading scorer and playmaker, and best rebounder. She also recorded the only two triple-doubles of the season so far. She may not be a defensive difference-maker, but she has been outstanding as an offensive hub for the Wings.
Shepard and Bueckers are leading the charge in what already looks like a successful turnaround. Dallas currently has the fourth-best record in the W with 13 wins and 8 losses, the fifth-best offensive rating, and the sixth-best defensive rating. Their first trip to the playoffs since 2023 is well within reach.
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