Satou Sabally [1296x729]
Satou Sabally [1296x729] (Credit: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)

Canelo the best fighter way too much for Munguia

The Dallas Wings expect forward Satou Sabally, the WNBA's Most Improved Player last year, to be able to return from shoulder surgery in August, after the Paris Olympics.

Sabally underwent surgery in February after she was injured while helping Germany qualify for the Olympics.

"She's on schedule with her rehab," Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said Thursday in a video call with reporters. "We expect Satou to come back around the Olympic break, be ready to compete for Germany in the Olympics, and then see her for sure in a Dallas Wings jersey over the final 15 games of the regular-season post-Olympic break."

The WNBA will pause its season for the Olympics, which run from July 26 to Aug. 11. The Wings' last game before the break is July 17 against the Indiana Fever, and their first game after the break is Aug. 16 against the Connecticut Sun. Both are home games for Dallas.

Sabally, who turned 26 on Thursday, averaged 18.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last season in helping the Wings finish 22-18 and reach the WNBA semifinals, where they fell to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces. Sabally, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft out of Oregon, was also an All-WNBA first-team selection in 2023.

"Fortunately, we have a deep and talented roster that we've been building over the last 3-4 years," Bibb said. "And while you can never truly replace [Sabally], I think we can hold the fort down until she gets back."

Bibb also provided more details on the Wings' relocation from Arlington, Texas, to downtown Dallas in 2026. He said that the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas Memorial Arena will be completely renovated and that there also will be a new practice facility exclusive to the team year-round. Practice facilities have been a major topic in the WNBA in recent years, with several teams upgrading.

Although design plans are still being finalized, Bibb said it's expected that seating capacity for Wings games will be about 8,500.

"The practice facility will be world class to meet the needs of our athletes," he said. "The arena itself will be a best-of-class arena with all the amenities and hospitality options of an NBA building."

The Wings will continue to play the next two seasons at College Park Center on the campus of UT Arlington. Bibb said that facility, the university and the city of Arlington have been good partners with the franchise but that the $4 billion reconstruction of the convention center area in Dallas helped draw the Wings.

"It will give us an opportunity to move to downtown Dallas, the center of the region, and be a part of a decade-long redevelopment of the convention center district," Bibb said.