ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jessica Shepard was a point guard before she grew into a 6-foot-4 forward, which is one of several reasons her breakout season with the Dallas Wings isn’t a surprise to her or teammates such as Paige Bueckers.
Shepard is a first-time All-Star and sudden triple-double machine, tied with career WNBA leader Alyssa Thomas of Phoenix for the most this season with five while helping the Wings reach the playoffs.
When she was exploring free agency in the offseason, Shepard saw a roster with two elite perimeter scorers in Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale and figured she could fit in.
The 30-year-old has done more than that, essentially doubling the scoring average from her first five WNBA seasons while joining Atlanta’s Angel Reese as the only players averaging double figures in points and rebounds. Shepard is at 14.3 points and 11.1 rebounds going into Wednesday’s regular-season finale at Seattle.
“It’s not anything that I’m like, ‘Oh, wow, I’m doing something I didn’t think I could do,’” Shepard said. “No, I knew what I was capable of doing since I’ve been a pro. Just being in the right situation, having people around you that support you, that believe in you, makes a huge difference.”
Bueckers remembers Shepard’s first career triple-double with Minnesota last season. Star forward Napheesa Collier was out, and Shepard had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a victory over Indiana.
Alanna Smith, another free-agent addition for Dallas in the offseason, was the other frontcourt starter alongside Shepard to open the season before injuries began limiting the 6-foot-4 defensive specialist.
Shepard had five consecutive double-doubles early in the season — two of those were triple-doubles, one with a career-high 12 assists — and has been the focal point of the frontcourt ever since.
“Watching her with the Minnesota Lynx, watching her overseas, it was just all about opportunity with her,” Bueckers said. “She bought into her role in Minnesota, did what she did and contributed to a lot of success. Her getting the opportunity to come here and be the hub ... she’s just a winner through and through.”
Perfect time, perfect place
Wings assistant coach Mike Neighbors also remembers days gone by with Shepard, before the Nebraska native played for the Cornhuskers and transferred to Notre Dame. He recalls sitting in the stands with others and saying of the ninth-grader on the court, “That one right there.”
And now it’s the right time for her under first-year coach Jose Fernandez.
“Her mentality, her conditioning, her understanding, her maturity, her voice, all those things have come together,” Neighbors said. “Kind of perfect time, perfect place, the right players, the right coach, the right system, but she was ready for that.”
Finding a new home
Shepard has played overseas consistently during the WNBA’s offseasons, and she even skipped 2024 to finish her season in Italy. She was coming off consecutive years of averaging eight points and seven rebounds for the Lynx, who drafted her in the second round at No. 16 overall in 2019.
After another year of almost identical production in a career-high 40 games last season, Shepard decided to look around and was immediately intrigued by the combination of Bueckers and Ogunbowale, not to mention a second consecutive No. 1 pick, Azzi Fudd, a teammate of Bueckers at UConn.
“When you’re in free agency, you hear from all the staffs, you hear from players,” Shepard said. “I think just the investment that they had in trying everything they could to get me here, made me feel they want to play alongside me.”
The road back
Shepard tore the ACL in her right knee early in her rookie season and didn’t play during the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season. She averaged a career-low 11 minutes while playing just 22 games in 2021.
By the time she found her way into the rotation, the Lynx had their only two losing seasons since 2010, which included a first-round playoff loss in 2023.
The Lynx went to the WNBA Finals the year without Shepard, losing to the New York Liberty in five games, before reaching the semifinals in her return last season.
Now Shepard gets her first shot at the playoffs in a leading role, starting Sunday.
“I think some players would probably have gotten out over their skis a little bit and thought maybe it should have happened a little differently,” Neighbors said. “When you see a player like that start to blossom, you just want to help them any way they can. She’s been a big part of everything that we’ve done.”
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Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press
