This is just an unhinged assessment backed by no evidence, but unless she’s forced to go, I don’t expect Paige will try to leave Dallas. I also wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she wants to make it work with Arike, just as I think (along with
@HuskyNan) that Arike wants this too. Events may intervene and prevent it, but on her side Paige is not a quitter. She does not give up on teammates.
On her side, Arike seems to harbor a grudge against the league (or the world) about lack of respect for her talent. The arrival of Paige could have exacerbated this, but instead she seems to have embraced this development. Perhaps she recognizes a turning point in her career and sees working with Paige as a way to make the best of it. I will be surprised if she ends up trying to leave a situation with Paige that might just retrieve her career.
I don’t care for ball-dominant players generally. But I feel for Arike in this moment. She has to rethink her game with little help from her coaches or most of her teammates. All there is for her to work with is Paige, and lucky for her Paige is the player most willing to try to make it work with her teammates. It’s a new idiom for Arike and she may not be all that comfortable in it and minor missteps abound along the way.
I’m reminded of a transition play a few games ago in which Paige tipped a pass away and it ended up in Arike’s hands. Naturally, Paige streaks down the floor and Arike follows dribbling the ball. She failed to do the smart thing and simply hit Paige with a long pass from midcourt. But she hangs on to it for too long and finally only gives the ball up to Paige around the free throw line. Paige scores, though it’s a more difficult finish then if Arike had passed it much sooner. This play looks to me like it encapsulates Arike’s dilemma and how difficult it is for her to change all her habits on the fly. I don’t think Paige will want to give up on her.
