With the No. 1 pick in the 2022 WNBA draft, the Dream selected Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard.
Atlanta traded for the No. 1 pick on Wednesday and gave up some significant capital for Howard. The Dream dealt the No. 3 and No. 14 picks to the Mystics and are all in on the 6'2" star.
Howard was an unanimous first-team All-American in 2021 after averaging 20.5 points per game her senior year. She’s been named the SEC player of the year for the last two years and led the conference in scoring. She was also a terror defensively, ranking fifth in the SEC in steals at 2.3 per game.
Despite her individual success and the teams’s success—the Wildcats (19–12) were a No. 6 seed in the 2022 women’s basketball tournament—she never saw the second round. Kentucky lost to Princeton in its first March Madness matchup.
Atlanta finished last season 8–24 and hasn’t finished above .500 since 2018. Although just 21 years old, Howard is expected to help build the franchise into a championship contender.
