After a disappointing 2025 season, the Dallas Wings have brought in a new head coach.
The team announced the hiring of former South Florida coach Jose Fernandez this week, replacing Chris Kochlanes after just one season with the Wings.
It also comes as the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement is set to expire Friday.
Here's where those negotiations stand, as well as a look at what went wrong last season – and how the team hopes to improve under Fernandez's leadership.
Last season
There were pretty high expectations in year one of the Paige Bueckers era, with a lot of excitement around her being one of the generational prospects the league has seen enter in the last few years. But the season didn't go as well as expected, with the team finishing 10-34 last year.
There were a combination of factors leading to the less than stellar performance. There were a lot of players out with injuries and points in the season where the Wings barely had six or seven players even dressed for games.
A few players also had a really underwhelming season and some of the acquisitions and moves they made in the off season just didn't quite work out the way they hoped.
Fernandez's background
Fernandez spent the last 25 years as a women's college basketball coach at the University of South Florida and he made 10 NCAA tournaments across that span, including eight over the last 12 years – so he's got quite the resume.
He was also assistant coach for the USA women's basketball under 18 national team back in 2024 and has been heralded as a brilliant offensive mind with some pro-level concepts that still worked really well in college.
I think all that could be helpful in elevating the Wings from the rough patch they've been going through.
Where the team stands now
Paige Bueckers is back for her second year. She was the 2025 No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft and returns after quite the debut season. She won Rookie of the Year and was also named to the All WNBA's second tea – so one of the very best players in the league already as a rookie. They've got a few other players still under contract this year as well: Aziaha James, J.J. Quinerly, Diamond Miller, and Maddy Siegrist.
But one of the big, free agents they've got is veteran guard Arike Ogunbowale. She was the Wings second-leading scorer last year and has been the face of the franchise for a few years now, prior to Buecker's joining the fray.
The wings also have the highest odds to land another No. 1 pick in the draft this year. They've got a 40% chance in the WNBA lottery, which will happen later this year, so that's certainly something to look forward to.
Collective bargaining negotiations
A collective bargaining agreement is pretty much a staple across all professional sports leagues. It's a deal that governs pretty much everything that goes on in the league, from salary caps to revenue sharing, league rules, and everything in between. It pretty much outlines how the league operates and the relationship between owners and players.
One of the biggest points of contention between WNBA ownership and the players is over salaries and the percentage of WNBA revenue that goes directly to the players. Right now, that's significantly less than the NBA. Some of that has been attributed to the fact that the WNBA doesn't turn a profit at the same level as the NBA, but players feel the proposed salary increases are not in line with the recent explosion of revenue and frankly, of the popularity of women's basketball.
If they don't come to an agreement, we could see a lockout. That's basically just a work stoppage while both sides continue working toward an agreement and another tool of leverage for either side to use.
Both sides could also agree to an extension to continue negotiations beyond the deadline. That's what happened the last time they bargained back in late 2019 and early 2020, when negotiations took a while but eventually did get where they needed to go.
There's still some time to hash this out, but there's no doubt there's significant ground between the two sides and it's not clear how soon that'll be made up.
Copyright 2025 KERA
