For much of recent history in the WNBA, the Dallas Wings have been one of the most active teams in the league’s draft. 2023 was no different, as the Wings welcomed six new players to their roster via the first-year player draft.
Coming into the night, the Wings had five selections, three of which were in the first round. For Greg Bibb and the front office, it was yet another successful draft.
In Dallas’ first selection of the night, they hit an absolute home run by selecting Maddy Siegrist, a forward from Villanova. The Wings have a need for three-point shooting and scorers now that both Marina Mabery and Allisha Gray are gone. With Siegrist, both of those needs will be filled.
Last season with the Wildcats, Siegrist became just the fifth player in division one basketball history to score 1,000 points in a single season and the first d1 player to have 37 straight 20+ point games.
After Dallas started the night on the right track, they went out and made a trade. The Wings traded a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 first-round pick for the draft rights to Iowa State center Stephanie Soares.
Last season at Iowa State, Soares 14.4 points and 10 rebounds in 13 games. Unfortunately, Soares will have to sit this season with a torn ACL that she suffered last season with the Cyclones.
With the fifth pick, the Wings took Lou Lopez Sénéchal, a guard from UConn. Last season, the Grenoble, France native averaged 15.5 points and shot 44% from beyond the arc. Lopez Senechal should come in and provide some shooting off the bench for the Wings.
In their final first-round selection of the 2023 WNBA draft, the Wings took Abby Meyers, a guard from Maryland. After transferring from Princeton, Meyers was named a 2022 All-American Honorable Mention and was most recently named to the 2023 All-Big Ten Second Team.
With their picks in the later rounds, the Wings selected Ashley Joens, a guard/forward from Iowa State, and Paige Robinson, a guard from Illinois State. It’s unclear what roles those two will have on the team this year, but there is no doubt they’ll be fighting for a spot on the team during training camp.
Overall, this was a successful night for Dallas as they addressed some of the points of need, such as scoring and three-point shooting.
The Wings will open their season on Saturday, May 20th, against the Atlanta Dream at the College Park Center in Arlington.
