Paige Bueckers Apologizes To Wings Fans After Ugly Win Over Storm: WNBA Star Keeps It Real
Paige Bueckers is going to give you the truth even when the box score does not deserve it.
The Wings beat the Storm 79-56 on Monday night in the Commissioner’s Cup. Dallas won by 23. That is a beatdown by any standard. Bueckers walked into the postgame and told the media she felt bad for the fans who paid to watch it.
“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly, like tonight.” Then she went there. “I feel bad for the people who are watching, they should get all their money back.”
The numbers tell the story. The Storm shot 33 percent. The Wings shot 36 percent. Bueckers herself went 4-of-12 from the field and 1-of-5 from three. The eye test was even worse. Lots of bricks. Lots of stagnant possessions. Lots of moments where the ball just stopped moving.
What saved Bueckers’ night was everything except scoring. She had nine rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and ran the offense for 24 minutes. That is a stat line that says she figured out how to impact the game when her shot was off.
The Wings are 6-3 now. That is a real start for a team that was supposed to be a year away. They are also 1-0 in the Commissioner’s Cup, which actually matters because there is real prize money tied to it.
The reason Bueckers’ quote matters is that it shows the kind of public-facing leader she is going to be. Most pros lean on the cliche. We have to be better. We did not bring it tonight. We need to look at the film. Bueckers cut through all of that and apologized to the people who bought tickets. That is the move of a player who understands that the WNBA is selling something, not just winning games.
The Wings have a lot to build on. They are playing real defense. Their starting lineup is gelling faster than expected. Aziaha James is a problem. Bueckers is finding her rhythm even on bad shooting nights.
The Storm side of this is the worry. Seattle has talent and is supposed to be a playoff team. Getting bricked by 23 in the Commissioner’s Cup on national WNBA broadcasts is not the look. Coach Noelle Quinn is going to have a long film session.
For Bueckers, the road gets harder fast. Dallas plays a stretch of contenders coming up. The Wings have to keep building chemistry without leaning too heavily on Bueckers to bail them out late. If she keeps producing on rebounds, assists, and steals when her shot is off, this team has a real ceiling.
The “give the fans their money back” quote is going to get shared all week. It is the kind of self-deprecating honesty that the league needs more of. Stars who admit when the product was rough.
Wings win. Storm lose. Bueckers gives the league a viral moment that is actually charming.
Refund jokes aside, Dallas is real.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
