Paige Bueckers has leaped to the biggest stage, but has it been enough? The No. 1 overall pick made her WNBA debut against the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday as she was hoping to leave her mark. After scoring 10 points and 7 rebounds in her initial match, Bueckers and the Dallas Wings fell short against the Lynx as they lost 84-99.
Bueckers understood that just getting the W wasn’t enough as she went on to say, “You get to the point where you’ve reached your dreams, and then you want to take off with it and see what you can do with it. Just getting to the dream is not enough. Continue to build on that.” The 6-foot guard is hungry for her first taste of victory in the league, as we go on to take a look at who isn’t playing in this upcoming matchup.
Storm Vs Wings injury report and lineup: Who’s in and who’s out?
The Seattle Storm is likely to keep their starting five unchanged from their season opener as they try to find a balance within the team. Their line-up might look like:
Guard – Skylar Diggins
Guard – Gabby Williams
Forward – Nneka Ogwumike
Forward – Alysha Clark
Center – Ezi Magbegor
Womens National Basketball Association – Chicago Sky v Seattle Storm Jewell Loyd 24 Seattle Storm Breanna Stewart 30 Seattle Storm and Sue Bird 10 Seattle Storm walk back to the bench during the WNBA, Basketball Damen, USA basketball game between the Chicago Sky and Seattle Storm on Tuesday August 9, 2022 at Wintrust Arena, Chicago, USA. NO COMMERCIAL USAGE Shaina Benhiyoun/SPP PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xShainaxBenhiyoun/SPPx shaina_benhiyoun_sports_press_photo_169549
There is, however, sad news for the Storm fans as Katie Lou Samuelson has been ruled out for the season after she had ACL surgery.
The Dallas Wings may also keep their lineup intact, although Maddy Siegrist may soon be starting if her output remains constant. The Wings will likely be going with:
Guard: Paige Bueckers
Guard: Arike Ogunbowale
Forward: DiJonai Carrington
Forward: NaLyssa Smith
Forward: Myisha Hines-Allen
The Wings currently do not have any new injury reports and will have their roster solid and ready to go. Carrington and Ogunbowale will keep the score going as they will look at the rest of the Wings for more contributions.
Game predictions: Will Paige Bueckers finally break through?
Both the Seattle Storm and the Dallas Wings will be looking to get their first wins of the season on Monday after losing out during their season openers. This game will be under the tones of an experience Vs fresh blood matchup as both Skylar Diggins and Paige Bueckers will battle it out at the guard position. Despite Storm’s loss, Diggins raked up 21 points and 4 assists out of Storm’s 59 points. For Dallas, it was a different case as five players had 10 + points but were simply outperformed by Napheesa Collier and the Lynx.
The Dallas Wings and the Seattle Storm are both expected to have a close match, and according to the ESPN matchup predictor, the Storm are edging out the Wings by a very small margin. Despite their loss in the last game, we expect the Dallas Wings to win the game as they displayed better team play and had multiple good performances across the board. The Storm, on the other hand, struggled to find their pace and are expected to take some more time to bounce back.
The Wings will have a home-court advantage in this matchup as Bueckers and company try to capitalize and put up their first win of the season. Let us see how the rookie holds up against a tough matchup as we wait and watch who takes the win.
The post Seattle Storm vs Dallas Wings: Starting 5, Injury Report & Prediction as Paige Bueckers Awaits 1st WNBA Victory appeared first on EssentiallySports.
