On the 23rd, Wings Preview: Li Yueru Faces Former Team Storm, Paige Aims to End 4-Game Losing Streak

At 10 AM Beijing time on July 23rd, the Dallas Wings will compete against the Seattle Storm on the road. Chinese player Li Yueru will face her former team for the first time since the trade; what kind of performance can we expect from her? Furthermore, the Wings are struggling, having lost four straight games. Can top pick Paige lead the team to end this losing streak?

Li Yueru joined the Wings from the Storm in a trade on June 15. In her 11 games with the Wings, she has averaged 8.9 points and 7.2 rebounds, including a career-high 15 rebounds in the game against the Dream on June 25. She has recorded three double-doubles, including her season-best performance of 18 points and 10 rebounds in the away game against the Sky on July 10. In her 9 games with the Storm this season, Li Yueru averaged only 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds, without ever scoring in double digits or grabbing double-digit rebounds.

Now facing her former team, the Storm, this is an opportunity for Li Yueru to prove herself. For the Wings, this is their third meeting with the Storm this season; they lost both previous encounters, with scores of 71-79 and 77-83.

The Wings' rookies are on the rise. While top pick Paige garners the most attention, the other two rookies are also making rapid progress. In the first 13 games of the season, Azzi Fudd averaged only 2.0 points; however, in the following 10 games, she scored in double digits in 8 of them, including 28 points in the game against the Mercury on July 4, setting the second-highest single-game score for a WNBA rookie this season, with an average of 13.2 points over the last 10 games.

Similarly, Quinerly averaged only 3.1 points in her first 17 games, but after entering the starting lineup, she has been averaging 16.0 points. Among the top 13 scorers in the WNBA rookie rankings this season, the Wings have four players, including Paige, who leads the league with an average of 18.4 points, James at 7th, Quinerly at 11th, and Gaisolso at 13th.

So far this season, the Storm have a record of 14 wins and 9 losses, ranking 4th in the league; the Wings have 6 wins and 17 losses, placing them 12th in the league.