# 2016 Dallas Wings season

The 2016 WNBA season was the 19th season for the Dallas Wings franchise in the Women's National Basketball Association. It was their first in Dallas, Texas after relocating from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was the third season under head coach Fred Williams.
The Wings began the season with three games on the road, and they won two, defeating Indiana and Washington but losing to New York. Their first game in their new home came against in-state rivals San Antonio on May 21. Dallas won 82–77 to mark their first win in their new home in front of a sell-out crowd. However, they would go on to lose their next two home games to finish May 3–3. Their losing streak extended into June, where they lost their first four games. Two of those losses were against eventual WNBA Finalists Minnesota and Los Angeles. The team extended its streaky performance by winning their next four games, including two wins, one in overtime, over Phoenix. The Wings lost two and won one game to finish June 5–6. Continuing to over around .500, Dallas lost its opening game of July and defeated Phoenix again in the second game. The team then hit a rough spot, losing its next six games to close out July. The streak did include an overtime loss to Minnesota and two five-point losses to Atlanta. The team's fortunes did not turn around after the Olympic break where they lost all three games in August and the first two games in September. They ended the losing streak at eleven by defeating San Antonio. They would only win one of their last three games, against New York. The Wings finished 11–23 overall and in 5th place in the Western Conference.

## Transactions
### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 5 | Aerial Powers | United States | Michigan State |
| 2 | 18 | Ruth Hamblin | Canada | Oregon State Beaver |
| 3 | 30 | Shakena Richardson | United States | Seton Hall |

### Trades and roster changes

| Date | Details |
| February 22 | Signed Glory Johnson |
| March 1 | Signed Riquna Williams |
| March 1 | Acquired Erin Phillips, the 5th pick in the 2016 WNBA draft, and the 11th pick in the 2017 WNBA draft from Los Angeles in exchange for Riquna Williams and the 6th pick in the 2016 WNBA draft. |
| May 11 | Acquired the 10th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft from New York in exchange for Amanda Zahui B. and the 14th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft. |

## Game log
### Preseason

2016 game log Total: 0–2 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–1) :
May: 0–2 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
May 1 12:00 pm
@ Indiana
L 90–108
Aerial Powers (17)
Aerial Powers (6)
Powers, Schimmel (4)
Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,214
0–1
2
May 8 1:30 pm
Connecticut
L 74–82
Glory Johnson (13)
Johnson, Powers (9)
Erin Phillips (6)
College Park Center 2,326
0–2 :
2016 season schedule :

### Regular Season

2016 game log Total: 11–23 (Home: 6–11; Road: 5–12) :
May: 3–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 2–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1May 14@ IndianaW 90–79Plenette Pierson (17)Courtney Paris (9)Odyssey Sims (4)Bankers Life Fieldhouse 8,5691–0
2May 15@ New YorkL 71–79Plaisance, Sims (14)Courtney Paris (12)Erin Phillips (5)Madison Square Garden 10,1201–1
3May 18@ WashingtonW 87–77Odyssey Sims (22)Karima Christmas-Kelly (10)Courtney Paris (4)Verizon Center 5,6182–1
4May 21San AntonioW 82–77Odyssey Sims (23)Courtney Paris (15)Erin Phillips (4)College Park Center 7,2753–1
5May 27AtlantaL 93–102Christmas-Kelly, Powers (16)Courtney Paris (14)Odyssey Sims (5)College Park Center 4,7123–2
6May 29ChicagoL 87–92Odyssey Sims (23)Courtney Paris (9)Karima Christmas-Kelly (6)College Park Center 5,2973–3 :
June
: 5–6 (Home: 3–3; Road: 2–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
7June 4@ MinnesotaL 63–80Aerial Powers (20)Courtney Paris (8)Kiesel, Sims (4)Target Center 7,6343–4
8June 8WashingtonL 79–87Aerial Powers (17)Karima Christmas-Kelly (10)Odyssey Sims (9)College Park Center 4,1773–5
9June 11Los AngelesL 73–97Odyssey Sims (18)Glory Johnson (6)Odyssey Sims (3)College Park Center 5,0613–6
10June 14@ New YorkL 88–91Karima Christmas-Kelly (21)Courtney Paris (10)Odyssey Sims (5)Madison Square Garden 7,9393–7
11June 16SeattleW 88–79Christmas-Kelly, Sims (17)Courtney Paris (10)Skylar Diggins-Smith (5)College Park Center 4,6224–7
12June 18@ PhoenixW 117–111 (OT)Skylar Diggins-Smith (27)Courtney Paris (12)Odyssey Sims (6)Talking Stick Resort Arena 10,2355–7
13June 21PhoenixW 100–90Skylar Diggins-Smith (20)Glory Johnson (10)Odyssey Sims (9)College Park Center 6,8196–7
14June 23San AntonioW 97–90Plenette Pierson (21)Glory Johnson (11)Diggins-Smith, Sims (5)College Park Center 4,0277–7
15June 25IndianaL 92–87Karima Christmas-Kelly (21)Karima Christmas-Kelly (12)Christmas-Kelly, Diggins-Smith (4)College Park Center 5,2067–8
16June 28@ Los AngelesL 84–89Skylar Diggins-Smith (29)Christmas-Kelly, Paris (7)Skylar Diggins-Smith (7)Staples Center 7,8237–9
17June 30@ SeattleW 83–78Aerial Powers (19)Courtney Paris (12)Karima Christmas-Kelly (5)KeyArena 5,3658–9 :
July
: 1–7 (Home: 1–3; Road: 0–4)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
18July 2ConnecticutL 83–86Glory Johnson (16)Glory Johnson (12)Christmas-Kelly, Diggins-Smith, Sims (2)College Park Center 5,1088–10
19July 5PhoenixW 77–74Glory Johnson (23)Glory Johnson (22)Skylar Diggins-Smith (4)College Park Center 5,4809–10
20July 8@ AtlantaL 90–95Karima Christmas-Kelly (18)Christmas-Kelly, Johnson (15)Odyssey Sims (5)Philips Arena 6,7459–11
21July 9@ MinnesotaL 56–93Phillips, Powers (9)Courtney Paris (6)Kiesel, Phillips, Sims (2)Target Center 7,6139–12
22July 15@ ChicagoL 77–84Plenette Pierson (20)Courtney Paris (8)Odyssey Sims (6)Allstate Arena 6,0129–13
23July 17MinnesotaL 97–98 (OT)Plenette Pierson (21)Plenette Pierson (11)Skylar Diggins-Smith (9)College Park Center 5,7529–14
24July 20ConnecticutL 78–89Odyssey Sims (20)Courtney Paris (11)Odyssey Sims (8)College Park Center 4,8739–15
25July 22@ AtlantaL 88–93Skylar Diggins-Smith (29)Courtney Paris (10)Plenette Pierson (7)McCamish Pavilion 4,7499–16 :
August
: 0–3 (Home: 0–1; Road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
26August 26@ PhoenixL 72–98Plenette Pierson (23)Plenette Pierson (8)Bias, Diggins-Smith, Sims (3)Talking Stick Resort Arena 11,3969–17
27August 28ChicagoL 85–92Odyssey Sims (22)Aerial Powers (8)Plenette Pierson (6)College Park Center 5,6519–18
28August 31@ SeattleL 66–78Plenette Pierson (19)Glory Johnson (9)Skylar Diggins-Smith (5)KeyArena 6,7719–19 :
September
: 2–4 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
29September 2Los AngelesL 79–87Odyssey Sims (26)Glory Johnson (15)Christmas-Kelly, Diggins-Smith, Powers, Sims (2)College Park Center 5,1769–20
30September 4WashingtonL 83–88Skylar Diggins-Smith (25)Plenette Pierson (11)Skylar Diggins-Smith (4)College Park Center 5,1629–21
31September 9@ San AntonioW 92–84Odyssey Sims (20)Courtney Paris (11)Odyssey Sims (7)AT&T Center 7,42510–21
32September 11New YorkW 84–81Karima Christmas-Kelly (23)Courtney Paris (12)Christmas-Kelly, Phillips, Sims (2)College Park Center 5,66211–21
33September 16@ ConnecticutL 74–107Theresa Plaisance (22)Courtney Paris (7)Skylar Diggins-Smith (5)Mohegan Sun Arena 6,22811–22
34September 18@ IndianaL 60–83Karima Christmas-Kelly (12)Christmas-Kelly, Paris, Plaisance (5)Diggins-Smith, Sims (4)Bankers Life Fieldhouse 17,70411–23 :
2016 season schedule :

## Standings

| Western Conference vte | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| 1 - Minnesota Lynx | 28 | 6 | .824 | — | 15–2 | 13–4 | 15–1 |
| 2 - Los Angeles Sparks | 26 | 8 | .765 | 2 | 14–3 | 12–5 | 11–5 |
| 7 - Seattle Storm | 16 | 18 | .471 | 12 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 7–9 |
| 8 - Phoenix Mercury | 16 | 18 | .471 | 12 | 11–6 | 5–12 | 6–10 |
| e - Dallas Wings | 11 | 23 | .324 | 17 | 6–11 | 5–12 | 8–8 |
| e - San Antonio Stars | 7 | 27 | .206 | 21 | 4–13 | 3–14 | 1–15 |
Notes
    # – Playoff seed
    e – Eliminated from playoffs

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
| Aerial Powers | WNBA All-Rookie Team | September 29, 2016 | |

## Statistics
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Odyssey Sims | 34 | 30 | 31.6 | 35.3% | 28.0% | 88.3% | 2.5 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 14.0 |
| Skylar Diggins-Smith | 27 | 25 | 28.3 | 39.0% | 29.9% | 78.8% | 1.9 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 13.1 |
| Karima Christmas-Kelly | 34 | 34 | 31.6 | 40.0% | 31.7% | 79.6% | 5.9 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 12.4 |
| Plenette Pierson | 27 | 27 | 26.6 | 38.7% | 33.7% | 82.9% | 4.6 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 11.9 |
| Glory Johnson | 18 | 6 | 27.9 | 44.2% | 28.6% | 75.3% | 8.9 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 11.3 |
| Aerial Powers | 32 | 2 | 19.2 | 39.4% | 36.8% | 83.5% | 2.7 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 10.4 |
| Courtney Paris | 34 | 32 | 24.3 | 54.8% | 0.0% | 55.6% | 8.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 7.7 |
| Erin Phillips | 32 | 12 | 14.6 | 43.8% | 38.3% | 90.6% | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 4.7 |
| Theresa Plaisance | 27 | 1 | 11.9 | 39.8% | 33.3% | 63.6% | 2.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Jordan Hooper | 32 | 1 | 9.1 | 37.5% | 34.1% | 87.5% | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 3.7 |
| Tiffany Bias | 10 | 0 | 6.4 | 34.8% | 27.3% | 83.3% | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| Ruth Hamblin | 20 | 0 | 6.5 | 25.0% | — | 71.4% | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| Brianna Kiesel | 14 | 0 | 7.4 | 17.4% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 0.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 |