ATLANTA — The drill was easy: Make the following basket and observe is over. The 5 gamers on the court docket for the Atlanta Dream may name no matter play they wished. Give the ball to whomever. They simply needed to hit the shot.
Rhyne Howard, Angel Reese, Allisha Gray, Jordin Canada and Naz Hillmon huddled. They pointed to completely different spots, nodding and shaking their heads as they drew up a play in opposition to the Atlanta observe squad.
“Let’s go,” Dream coach Karl Smesko yelled out. “We’re already working late.”
The huddle broke. Howard inbounded the ball to Reese, who was simply exterior the highest of the 3-point arc. She backed down her defender, drawing one other one as she shuffled her approach to the ring. Reese jabbed, then kicked the ball out to Canada. The guard hopped to the highest of the arc and pump-faked, then swung it over to Grey, who was on the appropriate facet of the 3-point line. That was the look that they had been ready for, and Grey knocked it down.
It is April 23 and the fourth day of coaching camp, however the Dream — their 5 core gamers from final yr, plus the addition of the splashiest performer of the offseason — are jelling.
“I imply, cannot imagine that is my life,” Reese mentioned throughout her first Dream media availability. “The paint is extensive open, and I can drive [and] come down till any person stops me. Everyone’s on Lish and on Rhyne, staying with JC, so it opens up the ground … it makes the job simpler for me, the place I haven’t got to all the time take the shot.”
Reese landed in Atlanta after being traded by the Chicago Sky in trade for 2 future first-round picks. It marked the top of a seemingly rocky tenure in Chicago, which drafted Reese with the seventh decide within the 2024 WNBA draft.
The Dream, in the meantime, re-signed their 5 core gamers — Howard, Grey, Hillmon, Canada and Brionna Jones — to multiyear contracts throughout free company, returning the core of a crew that misplaced to the Indiana Fever within the first spherical of final yr’s WNBA playoffs, a disappointing finish to Atlanta’s finest season in seven years.
“How may you not be blissful right here?” Reese instructed ESPN just a few days after that observe. “It simply feels nice. I all the time wished to come back to Atlanta. Once you consider championship tradition, taking part in subsequent to those gamers, the coach [we have], it simply made sense. … I did not care about the rest however being right here.”
The brand new chapter for Reese is what she hopes will take her profession to the following stage. And the Dream see her arrival as taking them from a playoff crew to a stable title contender.
“I do imagine that Angel is the lacking piece that we have to take us excessive,” Grey mentioned.
1:57
McNutt: Angel Reese commerce advantages all events concerned
Monica McNutt joins “SportsCenter” to interrupt down what the Sky buying and selling Angel Reese to the Dream means for each groups.
REESE AND SMESKO walked off the court docket following that fourth day of coaching camp. Earlier than going separate instructions, Smesko raised his hand for a fist bump. Reese shook her head and stopped. She introduced out her hand and requested, “Do you keep in mind it?”
They shook fingers, fist-bumped after which mimicked a shot and held a protracted follow-through.
“You are getting there,” Reese yelled.
“She’s attempting to show me a handshake, however I do not suppose I’m that cool,” Smesko mentioned, laughing. “I believe it is too late for me.”
Reese comes from a crew that went simply 23-61 over the previous two seasons. Her relationship with the Sky turned strained towards the top of final season when she publicly expressed concern over the crew’s level guard scenario and indicated the crew needed to get nice gamers this offseason or she would possibly think about transferring on.
However Reese and the Sky mentioned she didn’t request the commerce that landed her in Atlanta. She was ready to return to Chicago as she was nonetheless below her rookie contract. However the two events mutually determined to half methods this spring because the Sky started an overhaul of their roster.
They made it clear to Reese that they’d assist her land on a crew she wished to go to.
“Different groups have been , however [Atlanta] is actually the place I wished to finish up,” Reese mentioned.
Reese has been buddies with Grey since 2024, when the 2 have been on the identical All-Star crew. She has had a relationship with Howard for the reason that first season of Unmatched in 2025. Whereas they have been in Puerto Rico with USA basketball for FIBA qualifiers in March, Reese picked Howard’s mind in regards to the Dream group. Reese has recognized Jones since school, attributing Jones for the explanation she went to Maryland.
Reese wished to be part of this group. She wished to play for Smesko. She wished to be within the metropolis of Atlanta.
And the Dream wished her simply as badly. Months earlier than the Sky determined to maneuver Reese, Atlanta normal supervisor Dan Padover referred to as Chicago GM Jeff Pagliocca with a request: “In case you are ever contemplating transferring Angel, give me a shout as a result of we’ve curiosity,” Padover recalled to ESPN.
At the moment, nothing was imminent, however just a few weeks later, rumors started to unfold that Chicago was trying to discover Reese a brand new dwelling. So Padover referred to as once more, and the commerce began to come back collectively.
Padover ran the thought of buying Reese by Smesko, Grey and the opposite franchise gamers. All of their responses have been the identical: a convincing sure.
“She would carry a variety of stuff that actually would take the Dream to a different stage,” Smesko mentioned. “It was a type of issues that simply appeared like if there is a approach to pull it off, let’s do it.”
FAR BEFORE TRADING for Reese turned a viable choice, the Dream’s high offseason precedence was locking up the crew’s cornerstone gamers.
Padover was assured the gamers who laid the inspiration for Atlanta’s success wished to return, however with extra money out there than ever earlier than within the new collective bargaining settlement and a variety of participant motion anticipated to occur, he wasn’t certain.
However everybody wished to run it again.
“I wasn’t trying anyplace else,” Grey mentioned. “Yeah, the 5 of us may have left and gotten an enormous payday, however we wish to play [with each other]. We wish to win with one another, and we 100% imagine we are able to.”
Inside 24 hours of free agency opening, Padover prolonged gives to Grey, Howard, Hillmon, Jones and Canada. About 24 hours later, all 5 offers have been closed as every participant signed multiyear contracts value at the least 1,000,000 {dollars}.
“For 5 individuals to say, ‘No, I wish to keep, and I wish to keep for some time, I wish to try to win right here,’ I believe that is distinctive,” Padover mentioned. “On a human stage, it makes you are feeling good as a result of it’s a crew attempting to perform one thing and maintain beating on that door.”
The Dream group is in a drastically completely different place than it was six years in the past, when the crew was surrounded by pressure. The gamers overtly campaigned for the opponent of then-Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler within the 2020 U.S. Senate race after she overtly objected to the league’s promotion of the Black Lives Matter motion.
Larry Gottesdiener purchased the crew in 2021 and instructed Padover that he was prepared to be affected person with the rebuild so long as annually the Dream took a step towards changing into a contender. The primary was in 2022 after they drafted Howard with the No. 1 decide and Hillmon with the fifteenth.
“Rhyne and I received right here when it was gutted,” Hillmon mentioned. “We introduced within the drywall.”
Padover does not know if drywall is the right analogy, however their arrival laid the inspiration for each transfer they made after. The gamers — particularly Howard — took it upon themselves to recruit whom they wished to crew up with.
“We did not wish to have the franchise really feel like nothing,” Howard mentioned. “We did not need it to maintain feeling like what we got here into. We wished to guarantee that we weren’t simply right here for work, however right here for household.”
First, she recruited Grey, whom the Dream traded for in 2023.
“Rhyne wished me, so after they pulled up the automotive, I jumped within the seat,” Grey mentioned. “I wished to go on this; I wished this trip.”
Then Howard pushed for Canada, who was traded to the Dream in 2024. Forward of final season, Jones signed as a free agent. Atlanta additionally employed Smesko as its new head coach after a protracted and profitable profession at Florida Gulf Coast. He introduced a special type to Atlanta, emphasizing a faster tempo and better capturing quantity.
“We went by way of such a studying course of final yr,” Smesko mentioned. “However there’s a lot extra ease with what we’re alleged to be doing.”
And as many different groups combine new coaches and navigate roster turnover, the Dream imagine this may set them up for extra rapid success to begin the season.
“It was so good to carry the core again as a result of not many groups have been in a position to do this. It provides us a head begin as a result of we have already got that chemistry,” Grey mentioned. “Then, the addition of Angel — she has match proper in. You may’t even inform she’s new.”
The extent of togetherness, on and off the court docket, has change into palpable from exterior their partitions. It is what Reese noticed from afar and craved.
“When they need you right here, it is arduous to not get excited,” Reese mentioned. “To see how they’ve continued to develop each single yr, they did not keep on the backside. They’ve gotten higher each single yr. Something they have to be higher at, they’ve performed.”
ATLANTA TRAILED THE Fever by one level with 7 seconds to go within the decisive Sport 3 of their first-round playoff collection. If they might get only one extra clear look, they might advance to the semifinals for the primary time since 2018.
Howard tried to inbound the ball to Jones, however there was no secure cross to make. Indiana’s Lexie Hull deflected the ball and gained possession. Because the Fever chest bumped and celebrated their upset of the No. 3 seed, the Dream have been despatched into the offseason, falling within the first spherical for a 3rd consecutive season.
Grey walked towards the bench with each fingers on her head. What they hoped could be a deep playoff push — presumably a run to the Finals — ended within the first spherical by the hands of a crew taking part in with out a number of stars.
“It is a type of emotions you by no means wish to really feel once more,” Grey mentioned seven months later.
The Dream allowed themselves to really feel the ache of the disappointing defeat for a bit however then used it to assist information them towards what wanted to occur subsequent.
“Each mentioned the identical factor,” Padover mentioned. “It instructed me: Do not low cost the whole lot we’ve to get us right here and the way nice of a yr we had … [but] if we’ve a chance to assist us elevate, we have to. We have to go for that.”
Smesko is in search of Reese, who has centered her recreation round rebounding, to assist Atlanta safe extra second-chance alternatives and to seize defensive boards to spark its transition recreation. In 2024, she turned the primary rookie to guide the league in rebounding (13.1 per recreation) with a single-season document 446 boards. She additionally was the WNBA’s high rebounder in 2025 (12.6).
Atlanta is already an elite rebounding crew, main the league in complete rebounds per recreation (36.6) and defensive rebounds (27.7) final season. The Dream have been third in offensive boards with 8.9 per recreation. Reese helped the Sky rank because the WNBA’s second-best rebounding crew and second finest on the offensive glass.
Smesko coached in opposition to Reese through the 2022 NCAA event when he was main Florida Gulf Coast and he or she performed at Maryland. She was only a sophomore, however even then her rebounding stood out to him.
“She was the very best offensive rebounder I’ve ever seen in school,” Smesko mentioned. “You simply do not see individuals which might be that relentless.”
However he additionally needs to unlock extra of her offensive recreation.
“We create a variety of house and a variety of motion, so there’s going to be a variety of alternatives to both rating off cuts or invert some pick-and-roll,” he mentioned.
Not like when she was in Chicago and taking part in subsequent to a different conventional huge in Kamilla Cardoso, Reese is surrounded by shooters and playmakers in Atlanta, which creates much more house for her to play within the paint.
“She fills a variety of holes for us,” Grey instructed ESPN. “Lots of people have a look at her as only a rebounder however she’s greater than that. She will defend the ball, get the ball and take it the total 94 toes. She will rating in transition and hit the 15-foot brief soar. There’s a lot to her recreation, and I really feel like with Angel, including her to this crew, it is what we have been lacking.”
Earlier than coaching camp started, Smesko sat down with Reese in his workplace to go over what she noticed as her strengths, how she needs to get higher and the way she thinks she may slot in his system. Then he went over his perspective.
Smesko is an analytics junkie. His movie classes typically finish in quizzes, forcing the gamers to use the knowledge they acquired. Reese mentioned it is a completely different type of teaching than she is accustomed to and forces her to be uncomfortable. Nevertheless it’s additionally the form of teaching she has been hungry for, the form of steerage she wished.
“Coaches and GMs who actually believed in me have been one thing that I used to be actually, actually wanting after my first two years,” Reese mentioned. “I felt like [the Dream] cherished one another. I may really feel the sisterhood on the court docket and off the court docket.
“I believe there is no ceiling to what we are able to do.”
