WNBA Wings vs. Sparks Best Bet for August 20: Big Buckets, No Whammies
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Jason Lake
- August 20, 2025
Oh look, it’s two of my favorite bands from the mid-’70s: Wings and Sparks. I’m partial to Sparks overall, although I’ll admit Wings had a larger cultural impact despite the shorter career.
Good thing we don’t have to pick a side for Wednesday’s matchup – not when the Over is clearly the right call for your WNBA picks. There’s a total of 180.5 points on the basketball odds board at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review) as we go to press; that’s a lot of points for a WNBA game, but these are the right musical acts for the job.
Dallas Wings vs. Los Angeles Sparks
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 – 10:00 PM EDT at Crypto.com Arena
Why Bet the Over?
Because neither team can play defense. The Los Angeles Sparks (16-18 SU, 15-18-1 ATS, 24-9-1 Over) are giving up the second-highest effective field goal percentage in the league at 52.6%; the Dallas Wings (9-26 SU, 17-18 ATS, Over 19-16) are third-highest at 52.3%, well above the WNBA average of 49.8%. Those defensive flaws haven’t gone unnoticed at the top sportsbooks, where the Over has been a popular play all season.
Granted, it’s possible some of this defensive deficiency can be explained away by bad luck on 3-pointers. The Wings are easily the league’s worst team on the perimeter at 38.2% allowed, while the Sparks are once again third from the bottom at 35.4%. Maybe those numbers will naturally regress toward the league average of 33.6% over time.
The same could be true on the other side of the ball – at least when it comes to the Sparks, who rank second in 3-point offense at 35.5%. Combine that success rate with the fourth-ranked pace in the WNBA at 78.7 possessions per 40 minutes (thank you for correcting that, Basketball Reference), and it’s little wonder L.A. has the most profitable Over record in the league by a wide margin.
What About the Wings?
They’re not so good from downtown. Dallas is second-last on the WNBA 3-point charts at 31.1%, in part because they lost back-up guard Tyasha Harris (38.5% lifetime) early in the year to an unspecified left knee injury.
Fortunately for us, starting guard Paige Bueckers was back at the point for Dallas when they faced L.A. last Friday. Bueckers went 0-for-3 from long range, but she still scored 29 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Final score: Sparks 97, Wings 96 (Over 178.5).
There’s more bad injury news for Dallas, though. Back-up center Li Yueru was just ruled out for the remainder of the season with a sprained ACL in her left knee; Li played just nine minutes last Friday before leaving the floor. We could have used Li’s 35.3% 3-point shooting, but her absence will also help Los Angeles grab some more offensive rebounds at the other end.
The tricky part about all this is trying to figure out whether All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale will play for Dallas. She’s missed the past three games with a sore right knee, but does not feature on the Wings’ injured list as we go to press. Ogunbowale (30.4 3P%) hasn’t had the best of years for Dallas, but she remains their No. 2 scorer behind Bueckers, and assuming she plays, we don’t think the former Notre Dame star will have much ring rust after sitting out since August 10.
The Pick
Ogunbowale is important enough to Wednesday’s contest that you might want to verify she’s back in the band before you make your basketball picks – especially with the total already coming out this high. But at least Dallas has Bueckers in uniform, and the Sparks appear healthy enough, so bet accordingly, and may the sphere be with you.
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
