Paige Bueckers and Jessica Shepard made their first All-Star teams and played on opposite rosters in Chicago. Shepard averages 14.9 points and 12.0 rebounds.
CHICAGO — Paige Bueckers and Jessica Shepard played on opposite rosters Saturday night in the WNBA All-Star Game, the first All-Star selection for Shepard and the second for Bueckers. Team Spoon beat Team Coop 129-122 at the United Center.
Bueckers was asked about Shepard at the postgame press conference.
"Jess is incredibly deserving of this opportunity. She means so much to our team in Dallas, and she's had a great career," Bueckers said. "She spent a long time on a really deep Minnesota Lynx team and completely embraced the role they needed her to play. Now she's in Dallas with a bigger role, and she's meant so much to our basketball team."
"She's an even better human being than she is a basketball player, and she's already pretty great at basketball," Bueckers continued. "So it was really fun sharing this weekend with her."
Shepard started for Team Spoon and finished with 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in 18 minutes. She went 3-of-3 from the field, including 1-of-1 from 3-point range, and blocked a Marina Mabrey shot in the second quarter. Bueckers scored 12 points and added 7 assists in 25 minutes for Team Coop.
Minnesota drafted Shepard 16th overall in 2019 out of Notre Dame. She tore an ACL six games into her rookie season and missed all of 2020. She spent the rest of her Minnesota tenure as a reserve, and she sat out the 2024 season entirely while under contract with an Italian club, which kept her out of the Lynx's run to the Finals that October.
Shepard played 40 games for Minnesota in 2025 and averaged 8.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. She led the league in field goal percentage at 63.8% and finished third in Sixth Player of the Year voting.
Dallas signed Shepard to a multi-year deal on April 11.
She has started for the Wings this season and set career highs across the board. On July 7, she had 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists against New York, her third triple-double of the season.
Dallas selected Bueckers first overall in the 2025 draft. She made the All-Rookie Team and scored 44 points against Los Angeles that August, a WNBA rookie record.
Dallas finished last season with the league's worst record. The Wings have already won more games this year than they did in all of 2025.
Arike Ogunbowale and Azzi Fudd are also in the Dallas backcourt. Fudd was the first overall pick in this year's draft.
Fans, media, and players voted for the All-Star starters, and the league's coaches selected the reserves. Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon drafted the two rosters, which is how the Dallas teammates ended up on opposite sides. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve coached Team Spoon and Aces coach Becky Hammon coached Team Coop.
Attendance was 19,783, a sellout and the largest crowd for a WNBA All-Star Game. It was the first All-Star Game held in Chicago since 2022, when the event was played at Wintrust Arena.
Shepard has averaged 14.9 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in 27 games and has started all of them. She has shot 59.7% from the field in 33.3 minutes per game and leads the Wings in rebounding.
Bueckers has averaged 20.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in 25 games. She has shot 51.3% from the field, 39.7% from 3-point range, and 85.7% at the free-throw line, and she leads Dallas in scoring and assists.
Dallas is 18-9 and fourth in the standings, 3.5 games behind Minnesota. The Wings are 7-3 over their last 10 games and average 90.2 points per game.
Dallas hosts Atlanta on Wednesday.
