May 6, 2024

History to Watch For: 2024 Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever

So far we've gone through five WNBA teams and some history to anticipate for each this season:

• Atlanta Dream

• Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, and Washington Mystics

• Connecticut Sun

Now, let’s move on to the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever.

Dallas Wings

Arike Ogunbowale

Would you believe Arike Ogunbowale has scored a lot of points? She enters the 2024 WNBA season with 3,169 points, 831 from the 4,000-point mark. She scored 849 total in a full 40-game season last year, so 4K is reasonably within reach.

If she can get there this year, she’ll be in the running for fastest to 4K as well. She has played 157 games in her WNBA regular season career, and Breanna Stewart has the current record, getting to 4,000 points in 196 games.

Player	Num Games to 4K Points
Breanna Stewart	196
Diana Taurasi	197
Elena Delle Donne	199

Taking a look at cumulative point totals up to 200 games, Arike’s current scoring trajectory mostly runs down the middle of these three other players’ early careers, but of late she’s outpacing Stewart’s track to the record.

Teaira McCowan

Entering the season with 1,662 points and 1,278 rebounds, if Teaira McCowan can keep up her 2023 averages (and play a decent number of games) she’ll surely reach both 2,000 career points and 1,500 career rebounds. She’d be the 35th player with 2,000+ points, 1,500+ rebounds, and 200+ blocks.

Based on her recent averages, she could likely get there in her next 30 games, which would make her top-10 to that mark in league history.

Natasha Howard

Natasha Howard is similarly approaching the 4,000-point mark, needing 607 points to get there. She’s also just 298 rebounds from 2,000. She scored 642 points and had 313 rebounds last season in 39 games, so there’s a fair chance she gets there this year, which would make her the 15th player in WNBA history with 4,000+ points, 2,000+ rebounds, 300+ steals, and 300+ blocks.

Indiana Fever

Playoff Drought

Speaking of Howard, she started her WNBA career with the Indiana Fever, a part of what is still the longest streak of playoff appearances for any WNBA franchise (2005-2016).

Franchise	Consecutive Playoff Seasons
Indiana Fever	12 (2005-16)
Minnesota Lynx	11 (2011-21)
Seattle Storm	10 (2004-13)
Phoenix Mercury	10 (2013-22)
Los Angeles Sparks	9 (2012-20)

She was then traded away, winning one title in Minnesota and then another pair in Seattle. Meanwhile, back in Indy, Tamika Catchings retired after one final postseason appearance in 2016, after which the Fever started a new postseason streak.

Entering the 2024 WNBA season, the Fever are riding a seven-year playoff drought, tied with the Chicago Sky (2006-2012) for most consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance in WNBA history.

Franchise	Playoff Drought (Seasons)
Chicago Sky	7 (2006-12)
Indiana Fever	7 (2017-Active)
Phoenix Mercury	6 (2001-06)
Minnesota Lynx	6 (2005-10)
Dallas Wings	5 (2010-14)

The drought has been so pronounced that the Fever’s first lottery pick post-Catchings, Kelsey Mitchell (2018 No. 2 pick), has played 193 regular season games in the WNBA and has yet to log a postseason minute. In the history of the league, only one player played more regular season games before getting in a postseason game: Jia Perkins.

Player	Num Reg. Season Games Before First Playoff Game
Jia Perkins	233 (2004-11)
Kelsey Mitchell	193 (2018-Active)
Tamera Young	185 (2008-13)
Kayla Pedersen	184 (2011-17)
Nia Coffey	177 (2017-Active)

Perkins entered the league at the tail end of the Charlotte Sting’s ride to folding and was saved from that by being selected to the expansion Chicago Sky in 2006. She didn’t get to see that through to the Sky eventually making the WNBA Playoffs; instead, she was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars, where she finally saw the court in the postseason in 2011.

Regardless of the Fever’s 2024 season, and certainly they’re hoping this streak ends here, if Kelsey Mitchell plays a full 40-game schedule this year, she’ll tie Perkins’ record. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s followed by putting an end to this drought or just another dismal Fever record.

Aliyah Boston

Lin Dunn isn’t new to pairing top draft picks to form winning teams; she’s not even new to pairing a generational post-point duo. In 2002, she and the Storm got to use their No. 1 pick, won in the league’s first Draft Lottery, to bring Sue Bird to Seattle to play alongside Lauren Jackson, despite what were apparently extreme trade offers.

The duo won a pair of titles for the Storm starting just a couple years later (2004, 2010) and are featured prominently on the list of the WNBA’s best all-time players. Bird got a couple more titles (2018, 2020) before ultimately calling it a career.

It’s a very different, arguably more competitive league now, and it remains to be seen if Dunn can make the same magic happen again, bringing Caitlin Clark in to play alongside last year’s top pick, Aliyah Boston.

Boston will also look to build on a strong, All Star rookie season with a strong sophomore campaign. If her production stays at the level of her rookie season, she’s on track for 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 steals, and 100 blocks by the end of the 2024 regular season. If she can do so, she’d be hovering around the same level as Catchings and Jackson as well as a couple of, oh, just the greatest centers of all time.

Player	Num Games to 1,000 PTS, 500 REB, 100 STL, 100 BLK
Yolanda Griffith	58
Lauren Jackson	73
Lisa Leslie	76
Vicky Bullett	78
Tamika Catchings	79
Aliyah Boston	80 (Projected)

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