Awak Kuier scored a career-high 16 points in the Dallas Wings' 86-69 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Friday at Gateway Center Arena, delivering the kind of short, efficient burst the Wings have lacked from the center spot.
Kuier was perfect from the field, making all six of her field-goal attempts and both of her 3-point tries, finishing 6-of-6 from the floor with 4 rebounds and a block in 17 minutes off the bench. She put up 12 of those points in a redemptive third quarter, going 5-of-5 in that frame alone.
The numbers mattered. Kuier's 16 points pushed a Dallas comeback that included an 11-4 run in the third quarter to cut a 13-point halftime deficit to six. The Wings briefly led 64-63 early in the fourth before Atlanta closed the game on a decisive 19-1 run.
Coach Jose Fernandez said he inserted Kuier into the rotation to match Atlanta's frontcourt size — specifically Angel Reese and Naz Hillmon — and that the matchup played into his thinking. "Yeah, their size bothered us," Fernandez said. "So we had to play Lee, play Awak, right? I thought Awak was very active on both ends of the floor. Her length and athleticism. But what hurt us in that fourth quarter was downhill drives and dribble penetration."
Kuier's efficiency this season is stark even in limited minutes. Across six appearances she is averaging 5.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3. Her plus-32 plus-minus leads the Wings, and Friday she finished plus-8 — one of only three positive plus-minus marks for Dallas in the game.
Her recent bursts have come in a handful of extended stints. Kuier's three highest-minute games this season were 20 minutes against Washington on May 18, 17 minutes against Atlanta on Friday and 15 minutes against Atlanta on May 12; she scored 9, 16 and 6 points in those appearances and shot 12-of-16 across them. She has three blocks this season and is 4-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Kuier brings a familiar back story to the role. Dallas selected her with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft out of Reyer Venezia. She played her first three WNBA seasons in Dallas from 2021 through 2023 before returning to Europe, and Friday's game was another reminder of why the Wings invested a high draft pick in her size and touch.
There is tension beneath the tidy shooting line. Kuier's efficiency and positive on-court impact did not change the final score. The Wings were still outscored by Atlanta overall, and Fernandez pointed to late breakdowns that Kuier's insertion couldn't fix: the team surrendered penetration in the fourth quarter and could not keep the Dream from finishing their run.
Kuier said Fernandez's instructions were simple: add length and play tougher. "I think it was for sure just to have more length on the court," she said, and recalled the coach telling her to "be more tougher and be more physical. So I think that was the reasoning behind that." She also described a near-clock misread on a pass: "Well, she passed me the ball, and honestly, I didn’t see the clock," Kuier said. "I thought it was, like, two seconds left, so I just shot it. But that was, like, six or seven — I was just trying to make sure the ball got there, because I saw it floating."
If there is an immediate takeaway, it is concrete: when Fernandez needs size and activity, Kuier produces useful minutes. She leads the team in plus-minus despite logging fewer total minutes than any other rotation regular, and she credits practice time with the starters for her comfort on the floor. "I think practice for sure helps a lot," Kuier said. "Having good practices and practicing with all the players, I think that really made a difference going into the game and just knowing what every player likes to do, how Paige likes to play, how Arike likes to play. So I think that helped me a lot."
