“It’s one of those things you’ll never forget. Like when Michael Jackson died, like the September 11 attacks. They’re the kind of things that stay with you forever,” a player said in the Athletic‘s anonymous survey of NBA players. The Luka Dončić trade was the armageddon for Dallas Mavericks fans, as their superstar, the face of the franchise, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and their world changed within one night. It was a catastrophe for the whole city.
Now, there’s light at the end of the tunnel as their WNBA franchise, the Dallas Wings, drafted the next Luka Doncic-level superstar in Paige Bueckers for the upcoming WNBA season. Bueckers has had a stellar college career, being one of the most automatic and efficient scorers in the history of college basketball. Despite being such a prolific player, it won’t be easy, as she is coming into a team that was 9-31 last season. This national analyst has revealed that her aura and overall stature have given the city some hope for the future.
Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic said on the “No Offseason Podcast“, “Well, I was actually pleasantly surprised. A lot of my friends who are big Mavericks fans were aware of Paige getting drafted. Like, who I didn’t know really had women’s basketball on their radar.”
This showcases that Bueckers is pulling the non-WNBA crowd into the league. She is bringing in genuine viewers from the city who will now follow the franchise and eventually fall in love with it irrespective of whether it wins or loses. It’s like that with sports, isn’t it? You start watching a team because of a player or because it’s a team from your city, and then it’s your team forever, regardless of whether it’s winning titles or not.
She continued, “”And one of my buddies just had a baby girl last month, and we’ve already got a little Becker’s onesie for her. So good things happening for some of my personal Dallas fans at least. I think Ben has talked about this at length, just how Dallas is prepared from a business perspective to capitalize on this addition of Paige Beckers.”
Paige’s 2.4 million Instagram followers and 3.3 million on TikTok make her a bigger social media star than Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. Her draft night saw Wings jerseys sell out in 30 minutes, and 2025 season tickets were gone by November 2024. Fans gifted her a cowboy hat at her press conference and unveiled a LEGO mural of her face, showing she’s already won their hearts. The Wings expect a 50% ticket revenue boost, like the Fever got with Caitlin Clark.
The franchise and the city will gain a huge boost with respect to business, as the overwhelming popularity of Bueckers will rake in numbers in the stadium as well as on social media and TV. More sponsorships and jersey sales will just boost the sports ecosystem in the city.
She further explained how the televised games will reach such a huge audience, saying, “And they made an announcement just the other day that their broadcast has expanded to the point where they’re going to be reaching like 6.3 million households in markets around Dallas to be able to air their games locally, which is just a massive footprint when you have a star of Paige Bueckers’ quality, right?”
The viewership of the WNBA has historically been an issue for televising their games on local channels as well as national channels. Last season the WNBA shattered this slump as they set several viewership records. ESPN’s WNBA broadcasts increased 170 percent compared to 2023, making it the network’s most-viewed regular season ever. The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game amassed 3.4 million viewers, making it the largest audience ever for the summer exhibition. These are very positive signs that led to the Dallas Wings roping in Tegna, Gray Media, and Corridor Television to televise home games locally. There are 2.43 people per household in Dallas, per the US census. There are 6.3 million households, which, multiplied by 2.43 people, reaches over 15 million people.
Paige Bueckers was the main reason for these efforts, as her addition skyrocketed the team’s popularity among the locals, just like Luka Dončić.
Luka had been the son of the city of Dallas for so long but his heartbreaking and surprising departure left Dallas stunned. With Paige coming in, she is having the same pull in the city as Doncic did. The big man himself has recently named his favorite women’s basketball player and it’s not his successor.
In a recent interview with Caleb Pressley on “Sundae Conversations,” Dončić was asked who his favorite WNBA player was. Without wasting a beat, he picked Caitlin Clark. Pressley pressed him about Bueckers. “She’s okay, Doncic said. I didn’t see her play in the women’s NBA, so.” Pressley quickly responded, “She just got drafted,” to which Doncic added, “Number one.” Pressley hit back with “Dallas,” to which Luka responded with a cunning smirk.
The mention of his former franchise just induced laughs in the interview; many of the fans online were in fits after watching this, as Dončić and the Mavericks are not on decent terms after that trade. And how will they be? An injured Luka led the Mavericks to an NBA finals just the year before and you traded him? No one has been able to guess the thought process of the Mavericks management
He continues his career in Los Angeles, partnering up with LeBron James, while Bueckers is already ready to replace him as the face of the city in the basketball hemisphere. Bueckers already arrived at the team’s camp on Sunday and has gotten to work. She’s set to make her preseason debut with the Wings on May 3.
