The WNBA's Rookie of the Year award may not be decided just yet, but it is in the eyes of Wings first-year head coach Chris Koclanes.
That shouldn't come as a surprise as he coaches one of the league's newest stars and this year's top pick, Paige Bueckers. The star guard leads all rookies in points (18.8) and assists (5.4) per game, but Mystics rookie duo Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron are having top-notch first seasons in their own right. While Bueckers, who's currently sixth across the WNBA in scoring, is likely the heavy favorite for the honor, we'll have to wait until the season concludes for it to become official.
Fans don't need to wait that long in Koclanes's eyes, though.
“She is Rookie of the Year. There’s no question,” he said Wednesday of Bueckers via Myah Taylor of the Dallas Morning News. “She makes everyone around her better.”
In the first year of the Bueckers era, the Wings are a lackluster 9-26 sitting comfortably out of the WNBA playoff picture. Washington (16-19) is seven games better than Dallas as they battle for one of the league's final postseason spots, currently 1.5 games behind the Storm who sit in eighth.
Iriafen and Citron were both named to the WNBA All-Star team this season in their first year along with Bueckers, who became the eighth rookie in league history to be named an All-Star starter.
Bueckers broke her franchise's rookie assist record and became the fastest rookie in league history to reach 500 points and 100 assists. The WNBA is in good hands with its star rookie trio of Bueckers, Iriafen and Citron, but only one can claim Rookie of the Year honors. And it's clear who Dallas thinks the award belongs to.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Wings Coach Didn't Mince Words on Paige Bueckers's Rookie of the Year Campaign.
