“Rigged”: Arike Ogunbowale Doesn’t Hold Back With Her Comments Around Paige Bueckers Following Playoff Loss

Siddharth Rawat Sat, October 3, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

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Chicago, USA, May 29, 2025: Arike Ogunbowale 24 Dallas Wings and Paige Bueckers 5 Dallas Wings looking dejected during the game between the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings on Thursday May 29, 2025 at Wintrust Arena, Chicago, USA. NO COMMERCIAL USAGE Shaina Benhiyoun/SPP PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xShainaxBenhiyoun/SPPx spp-en-ShBe-8P6A9769 ©IMAGO/Sports Press Photo

The Dallas Wings’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion, but Arike Ogunbowale had something bigger on her mind after the 73-77 loss to the Golden State Valkyries. After watching Paige Bueckers help carry Dallas through a dramatic 2026 campaign, the veteran made sure her backcourt partner was not overlooked.

Following the Wings’ loss, Ogunbowale and Bueckers appeared in the postgame conference, where the veteran guard made the case for her teammate to make the All-WNBA First Team. Her comments were part of the video posted to the WNBA’s YouTube channel as a livestream of the interview.

“When we got Paige, I mean, generational player,” she said. “Like, she willed us throughout the whole season. Should be first team WNBA. If not, I feel like that s*** is rigged because she’s done everything for this team.”

Bueckers was the leading scorer for the Wings in the 2026 regular season, helping lead the team to its most successful season in three years. The Wings, who won a combined 19 games in 2024 and 2025, won a franchise-record 27 games, finishing with the #7 seed.

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Bueckers also made individual history. She set the single-season record for both points and assists in franchise history. She beat Arike Ogunbowale’s previous mark of 849 points in 2023 by finishing with 878 points, and blew Skylar Diggins’ previous assists mark of 199 assists out of the water with 247 for the year.

Bueckers also logged more points in the first two seasons of her career than any other player in league history, finishing with 1,570, while becoming the fastest player to reach 1,400 points and 400 assists over her career, doing so in 72 games, beating the record set by Caitlin Clark.

Bueckers finished the season averaging 20.9 points and 5.9 assists. Notably, she made a big leap as a three-point shooter, improving from 33.1% during her rookie season to 41% this season.

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Unfortunately, the playoffs were not as successful for Bueckers. She started strong; in Dallas’ Game 1 loss to the Valkyries, Bueckers logged 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting, but her next two games did not go well. Over Games 2 and 3, Bueckers averaged 13.5 points on 22.2% from the field and 25% from three-point range, making just six of her 27 attempts over the period.

Dallas head coach Jose Fernandez talked about how Bueckers had taken the loss following the team’s elimination, and expressed a similar sentiment to Ogunbowale.

“Paige is taking it hard,” Fernandez said after the game. “She carries that load. She’s a winner…This series shouldn’t have any inkling on the kind of season she had for us… We don’t get to this point without Paige… She takes a lot of ownership and carries a heavy load. The great ones do.”

Arike Ogunbowale became the lightning rod for Dallas’ offense over this period. In Game 2, Ogunbowale logged the greatest scoring game in WNBA playoff history, finishing with a playoff-record 45 points on 12-for-23 shooting and making 16 free throws to keep Dallas’ season alive at home.

Then, in the win-or-go-home Game 3, she finished with 30 points on 11-for-21 shooting, including a 17-point first half. Arike Ogunbowale even overcame injury. During the fourth quarter, she had to head to the locker room after an awkward landing led to her limping and grabbing at her thigh. A few minutes after being escorted to the locker room, she returned to the game and logged seven more points.

With the Wings now headed home with the season coming to an end, Ogunbowale’s message to voters isn’t about herself. Instead, she wishes that whatever happens with All-WNBA voting, Bueckers should be on the First Team, especially since she has done enough to warrant consideration.

Only time will tell if Arike Ogunbowale’s wish comes true, and now, the team faces a long spring leading to the 2027 season. The Valkyries now move on to the semifinals, where they will face the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces defeated the Indiana Fever in a 2-1 series to move forward in the 2026 WNBA playoffs.

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