Paige Bueckers’ Head Coach Tears Into Team After 2nd-Straight Loss: “There’s Selfishness in This Locker Room”

Paige Bueckers and her Dallas Wings had started out this season playing a beautiful brand of winning basketball.

Paige Bueckers’ Head Coach Tears Into Team After 2nd-Straight Loss: “There’s Selfishness in This Locker Room”

Paige Bueckers and Jose Fernandez (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings have lost two consecutive games, raising concerns about team cohesion.
  • Head coach Jose Fernandez criticized the team's selfishness and lack of accountability after the losses.
  • Hall of Famers Swin Cash and Cynthia Cooper suggested Fernandez should have addressed issues privately rather than publicly.

Before even the 2026 season started, many analysts painted Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings as potential championship contenders.

They were not wrong to believe so. The reigning Rookie of the Year is as efficient and exceptional a player as can be, and there are many who believe Bueckers will go on to be one of the all-time greats.

To complement her and franchise cornerstone Arike Ogunbowale, the front office spent a lot of money bringing in Co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard. They also brought other veteran talent to offset the youth and drafted Azzi Fudd No. 1 overall.

On paper, this team looks like it can hang in with the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. When they won against Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever in the season-opener, many felt their predictions were going to be justified.

However, the Wings have lost two straight games, both close, highlighting how much work needs to be done to get the retooled team functioning as one. But it seems head coach Jose Fernandez thinks the problem lies elsewhere.

There’s selfishness in this locker room… You gotta look in the mirror and be accountable about how you play. Don’t get upset if you think that you should’ve played more… Or you didn’t get the shots that you think you should have gotten.

Jose Fernandez told reporters

The 54-year-old reiterated that really good teams do not care about individual shot selection and minutes. Rather, they focus on one thing, and that is winning.

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Paige Bueckers and her Wings lost the game in the closing stages

This was a game that Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings should have won easily. The Minnesota Lynx did not have perennial MVP favorite Napheesa Collier or Dorka Juhasz playing.

Paige Bueckers' Wings are a championship-caliber team
Paige Bueckers’ Wings are a championship-caliber team (Image via Melissa Triebwasser/X)

That meant the Wings, with their better-rounded roster, could have maintained the lead they established in the first quarter. The lead kept shrinking, but the home team kept the game within their grasp up until one minute left in regulation.

After Odyssey Sims missed a driving layup to start the final minute, the Lynx scored on the opposite end to take the lead. On the next Wings’ possession, No. 2 overall pick, Olivia Miles, blocked Sims’ jump shot. That led to a shot-clock turnover that helped the away team to regain possession.

It was not just Sims who missed chances at icing the game. Paige Bueckers, who finished with a game-high 27 points, along with Jessica Shepard, Alanna Smith, and Azzi Fudd, committed costly turnovers.

They also missed easy baskets that could have put the game out of reach. It seems that is what Jose Fernandez was pointing at, as the Wings are not playing with the confidence or focus of a championship contender.

Hall of Famers call out Jose Fernandez for flaming his team

After the press conference was over, these answers from Jose Fernandez were bound to become a major talking point. Amazon Prime, covering a WNBA game for the first time, decided to discuss it before social media takes over.

Leadership doesn’t just start with players in the locker room. They’ll follow your lead. Accountability to understanding the team you have & the season you have ahead.

Swin Cash said

Fellow Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper agreed that this was too early for the head coach to call out his players publicly. She believes Fernandez should have waited for a few more games before calling out Paige Bueckers and her teammates.

At this point, Swin Cash pointed out how the Wings’ head coach could have avoided this becoming a major story on social media had he said this to his players in the locker room. But as his answer revealed, the former University of South Florida coach has already talked about it with his players. Maybe he felt they did not listen, and that is what prompted him to make this public.

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