Paige Bueckers has long been regarded as one of the best players in women’s basketball, and there are several reasons behind that reputation. One of them is her pass-first mentality. The very trait that makes her such an effective playmaker, however, also presents an opportunity for growth as the Dallas Wings continue to build their team around her.

The Wings performed much better in 2026 than they did during Bueckers’ rookie season, when they finished with one of the worst records in franchise history. Despite losing Azzi Fudd for the remainder of the season in August, Dallas still made the playoffs, although its run ended with a first-round loss to the Golden State Valkyries. So now, as the Wings head into the offseason, forward Alysha Clark has identified what she believes should be the next step in the 24-year-old guard’s development.

“For me personally, I feel her next step in her growth is to be able to command and direct a team. She has the work ethic and the mentality, and all of that down,” Clark said in her conversation with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston on Post Moves. “And then yeah, to your point about the selfishness, I mean the unselfishness, it’s like yeah, like sometimes you got to insert, and this is where you need to push and pull, but I think that learning lesson of when do I insert and go do this myself and then when do I get them involved and get them where they need to be to make sure that we get what it is that this team needs on whatever possession.”

“But I mean that’s just a young point guard in a professional league that I feel like everybody has that growth. So I’m excited to see just how she grows in that space because she has everything else down. There were moments throughout the season I was like, I keep forgetting this is only her second year. Like just her presence, the way that she can command a game, and the way she can take over so easily – you see that in the greats that have been playing five, six, 10 years. That’s something that she has now. And so just that extra added layer. I think it’s going to be insane when she can get that,” she added.

Paige Bueckers averaged 20.9 points and 5.9 assists per game in 2026, leading the Wings in both categories. She established herself as a reliable scoring option without losing the playmaking instincts that make her so valuable to the team.

Dallas has also seen what can happen when Bueckers gets more opportunities to focus on scoring. In a July win over the Toronto Tempo, she poured in a season-high 34 points while playing more off the ball. But Bueckers has previously explained that keeping the ball in one player’s hands for too long can make an offense easier to defend.

That balance is at the heart of Clark’s observation. It is also an area Bueckers recognized she needed to work on earlier in the season. The Wings guard admitted that she was still finding her footing and wanted to become more aggressive, both as a scorer and as a playmaker.

“I feel stuff out first, and then this is obviously a new team, and we didn’t have everybody in preseason,” she said. “So I think I gradually made my way through the first two games of the season. I feel like I can be more aggressive.”

“But not just for me, but also for creating for others. So again, it’s something that I have battled with my whole life… I am just being more selfish, taking more shots, so it’s something that I’m very aware of, and I want to improve on as well,” she added.

Now, with the Wings’ 2026 campaign over, Paige Bueckers has a clearer picture of what her next stage of growth could look like. She does not need to abandon her instinct to create for others. Instead, learning when to take over a possession herself could make her even harder to defend as Dallas looks to build on its return to the playoffs.