Paige Bueckers Had Priceless Reaction to Wings Teammate Seemingly Giving Up on a Play

Bueckers seemed baffled by her teammate's lack of effort.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) is fired-up during the second half against the Indiana Fever at the American Airlines Center.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) is fired-up during the second half against the Indiana Fever at the American Airlines Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Wings suffered another painful loss in Wednesday's game against the Chicago Sky and are arguably still looking for their identity halfway through the WNBA season.

Wings star guard Paige Bueckers was 5-of-20 from the field and 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, finishing with 17 points in the 87-76 defeat. While the reigning No. 1 pick appeared to leave it all on the court, the same couldn't be said for her Wings teammate and fellow rookie Aziaha James, who appeared to give up on a jump ball during the game.

James was up against Sky's Rebecca Allen, who had a good four inches on her. When the ref threw up the basketball for the jump ball, James didn't contest at all and instead walked straight through to commit a lane violation.

Cameras caught Bueckers's seemingly peeved reaction in the background:

It's possible James could have simply been playing to her team's strengths, allowing the Wings to get set on defense rather than potentially have to scramble back in transition. Still, the lack of effort from the NC State product definitely isn't a good look and elicited some baffled reactions for good reason.


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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.