Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream off to hot start in 2025 season

May 22, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard (10) dribbles against the Indiana Fever in the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

After making several key offseason moves, the Atlanta Dream are among the WNBA’s best teams early on in the 2025 season.

Former Kentucky women’s basketball star Rhyne Howard is a big reason why. On Friday night in Seattle, Howard exploded for a season-high 33 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists as the Dream took down the Storm 94-87 despite trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. She hit the biggest shot of the game, a mid-range jumper with under a minute left to give her team a nine-point lead.

After a slow 1-2 start, the two-time SEC Player of the Year has helped Atlanta reach a 5-2 record, including an active four-game winning streak, to begin this year’s campaign.

RHYNE HOWARD DAGGER🗡️

ATL-SEA | ION pic.twitter.com/lCpStxTaeB
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 31, 2025

By bringing in Karl Smesko (previously at Florida Gulf Coast) as the new head coach and adding All-Star center Britney Griner into the fold, the Dream now have all the makings of a team that can make a deep postseason run. Atlanta has not advanced past the first round of the WNBA Playoffs since 2018.

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While Friday night was an impressive showing from Howard, her shooting numbers this season have left something to be desired — which should only inspire more confidence in Dream fans as the two-time All-Star/2022 Rookie of the Year expects to eventually hit a groove.

Howard is shooting career-lows in field goal percentage (34.8) and three-point percentage (27.4), but her 17.6 points per outing is still a career-best. The former No. 1 overall pick is also posting 5.6 rebounds, five assists, and 1.9 steals per contest — all the best of her career thus far. Howard’s 10 assists earlier this season in a win over the Dallas Wings tied her career-high.

Alongside Griner (12.2 PPG), Allisha Gray (21.4 PPG), and Brionna Jones (13.9 PPG), Howard and the Dream couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. Atlanta will take off the next week before returning to action against the Connecticut Sun on Friday, June 6, in a Commissioner’s Cup Game.