Wings vs Storm arrives with the Seattle Storm carrying a 10-game losing streak into the June 22 matchup with the Dallas Wings. Four of those losses came by at least 20 points, and two more came by double digits, so Seattle has not just been losing — it has been getting handled.
The Storm's offense has been described as nearly six points worse per 100 possessions than the second-worst offense in June. That is the kind of gap that turns a game into a test of whether Seattle can simply keep the scoreboard within reach.
Paige Bueckers and Dallas
Paige Bueckers enters with a different problem for Seattle to solve. She has at least seven assists in each of her last three games while averaging 14.7 points, which gives Dallas a guard who can bend a defense even when the shot volume does not spike.
She fit that profile on June 1, when the Dallas Wings beat the Seattle Storm 79-56. Bueckers played 24 minutes, scored 10 points, went 4-for-12 from the field and still handed out seven assists in a 23-point rout.
Seattle's scoring drag
That earlier result is the cleanest warning sign in this matchup. Dallas already found a way to separate from Seattle once this month, and the Storm have done little since then to suggest they can trade possessions for long stretches without the game tilting away from them.
The complication is Bueckers herself. Douglas Farmer wrote that "If Paige Bueckers has a flaw, it is that she is not aggressive enough in scoring when the opportunities are clear." He also wrote, "She is not the shoot-first player she probably should be."
Injury report pressure
Dallas also had its own status questions, with Alysha Clark listed as questionable and Odyssey Sims listed as out. Alanna Smith was out for the Wings, while Jordan Horston was out for the Storm.
That leaves the June 22 game shaped by two forces at once: Seattle trying to stop a skid that has already reached 10 games, and Dallas trying to extend the edge it built in the first meeting by leaning on Bueckers' passing if the scoring chances stay crowded. If she keeps moving the ball instead of forcing shots, Seattle will still have to solve the same problem it has had all month.
