WNBA: Brittney Griner shoots 3s, shines in Atlanta Dream debut

WASHINGTON — The Atlanta Dream saw one of their leaders in Jordin Canada leave their Wednesday preseason game against the Washington Mystics with a right leg injury after just 35 seconds of play. She received help walking off the court. First-year Dream head coach Karl Smesko did not have an update on the injury immediately after the game.

Canada crumbled to the floor after successfully defending a Jade Melbourne layup attempt, and, with it being the preseason, Mystics star Brittney Sykes quickly intentionally fouled Allisha Gray so that the Dream’s training staff could help the injured player. On the replay, it looks like Melbourne’s knee hit Canada’s knee.

Canada, age 29, is a borderline star—the fifth-best player on the Dream. Early in her career, she was known as being a great backup point guard to Sue Bird on two WNBA championship-winning Seattle Storm teams, including in her rookie year of 2018. In 2023, as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks, she posted impressive career highs of 13.3 points and six assists per game en route to a second-place finish in Most Improved Player voting.

This latest injury could add to the adversity she faced last year in her first season with the Dream, when she missed time with hand and finger injuries. Playing in 20 of the 40 regular-season games, she led the Dream with 5.8 assists per game, and was second in steals (1.6), third in minutes (31.2) and fourth in points (10.6). In the loss that eliminated the team from the playoffs, she dished out an impressive 11 helpers for her playoff career high (one off her career high for any game).

If Canada misses time, it would be a huge blow to the Dream. I think they can still do a lot of damage in this league without her, especially considering their “Big 4” of Rhyne Howard, Brittney Griner, Allisha Gray and Brionna Jones is still in tact, but they would lose a lot of talent in Canada and it would be deflating for the team to not be at full strength after such great offseason of moves.

After Wednesday’s game, an 80-70 win for the Dream, Nia Coffey was asked about Canada and had this to say:

It’s tough. She is one of the main leaders on the team. But something that Coach (Karl Smesko) said is, “Our hearts are with her, but our minds are where they need to be for the game.” So we will always give her the support that she needs and that she deserves, but we had to finish out the game for her and just for our team. So, it’s always tough, but we’re just praying that God has her and that she’ll make a recovery.

3-point-shooting bigs

It may be hard to imagine anything happening before the 35-second mark, but the Dream were already looking good when Canada went down. On the game’s first possession, Canada found Griner for a wide-open, straightaway 3 and Griner buried it. The team didn’t miss a beat after Canada left, building leads of 13-2 and 27-6. Griner made another 3 within two minutes of her first and finished the game 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

In between Griner’s two treys, Jones, whose career high for 3-point attempts is the 14 she shot last season, took a triple that missed off back iron but looked like a good shot. She looked good shooting 3s in warmups too, and spent a lot of time on them, which you wouldn’t expect from someone who hasn’t typically had that type of scoring in her arsenal throughout her career.

But the thought that Jones might extend her range to the 3-point line existed before Wednesday because Smesko is known for having offenses that took a lot of 3s during his tenure at FGCU. It was thought of as odd that he was now coaching Griner and Jones, neither of whom have been 3-point-shooting bigs throughout their careers, though Griner did test it out with great success last year, going an impressive 9-of-18 (Jones was 2-of-14).

On Wednesday, however, Griner matched her career high in attempts (and makes) just one minute and 52 seconds into the game. She’s attempted two triples multiple times, but the only time she had ever made two was on July 10, 2024 in a 16-point Phoenix Mercury win over the Dallas Wings. Jones has only attempted multiple 3s twice in her career (two attempts one time and three the other).

Yes, Atlanta got away from the bigs shooting 3s as the game progressed, but they came in locked and loaded with that in mind, which made me think that it’s likely going to be part of their strategy during the regular season. After the game, Smesko confirmed as much:

(Brionna and Brittney have) both been working on extending their range. They’ve both been really consistent shooters in practice. I think that can be part of what they do for us. Obviously, we don’t want to take away from the way they can dominate near the basket, but I really expect that both of them will shoot a really good percentage from 3. It may not be total high volume, but I think it’ll be an added plus.

Then asked about what it typically takes for non-3-point-shooting bigs to become good at it, here’s how Smesko responded:

I think it’s different for different players. But you have to feel comfortable taking it. And then you have to be able to handle missing. The best shooters in the world miss plenty of 3s and they just keep shooting. So if it’s a shot we think you can make a good percentage of the time, you just shoot it. And we all know that we’re expecting them to shoot those shots. And the results in any small sample is not how we’re gonna base our decisions going forward.

Lots of 3-point shooting overall

As a team, the Dream were 12-for-35 from deep (34.3 percent), surpassing the 2024 Liberty’s league-leading averages in both attempts (29) and makes (10.1). The percentage would have slid in between the fifth- and sixth-place teams last year.

Howard, who attempted 8.1 per game last year, went an efficient 4-for-9. Coffey has been a hot-and-cold 3-point shooter over the course her career, having two seasons of over one make per game at over 40 percent to her credit, while also shooting under 30 percent a couple times, including last year when she played in all 40 games and made 1.7 attempts per contest at 27.3 percent. On Wednesday, she was a promising 3-for-4. Walker-Kimbrough, who was brought in to be a sniper, was 1-for-3, as was Maya Caldwell, who went on a memorable heater for Atlanta in 2022 (18-of-32 over a nine-game stretch).

The Dream’s lone draft pick, Te-Hina Paopao, who led NCAA Division I in 3-point efficiency in 2023-24, was 1-for-7, which brought down the team’s percentage, as did an 0-for-3 showing from reigning 3-Point Contest champ Gray.

But, clearly, the Dream look like they are going to take—and make—a lot of 3s this season, as expected.

BG the player of the game

Griner finished with game highs of 16 points (7-for-11 from the field) and 10 rebounds to go along with three assists and a block. She scored at all three levels. As we know, her mid-range game has become lethal—she made one turnaround 13-footer. Other than the two 3s, the rest came inside. She moved well, showing no signs of slowing down because of age (she’s now 34 and will turn 35 in October). And her ability to distribute was key—she looked like she was really in sync, which helped the flow of the offense.

She was the best player on the floor in a game that also featured Howard.

Yeah, it’s only preseason, but I think there will also be games in the regular season when she’s the best player on the floor. How about 10 points, five boards, an assist and a block in the first quarter alone? Her energy rose above everyone else’s.

This was my first time seeing BG play live and I still got the Brittney Griner experience, as if she was in her prime. A great way to start off her first WNBA season not wearing a Phoenix Mercury jersey!

Te-Hina Paopao’s debut

One big question on everyone’s mind: Will Paopao, the No. 18 pick in the draft, make the regular-season roster? It may come down to her or Shyanne Sellers, the No. 17 pick who the Dream signed after she was waived by the Valkyries. Sellers was not with the team on Wednesday, so she has yet to showcase her talent in preseason action.

Paopao played 20 minutes; clearly the Dream wanted to take a long look at her. She finished with seven points, making both of her 2-point attempts, including a nice floater after a drive for her first WNBA preseason points.

Her efficiency from 3 was a downside to the performance, but the Dream front office knows that she can shoot a good percentage. Wednesday was more a matter of seeing her play at a WNBA speed and against WNBA-level physicality, and she definitely looked like she belonged. She even tied a game high with four assists. Here are her thoughts on the experience:

Just happy I got my legs under me, just able to go out there and do what I do. A good first dub. … It was like everything I expected: stronger, faster, the pace was a little bit faster than college. And you gotta make fast reads, making fast decisions and being ok with that. And the pressure, obviously. I thought that was a good look for the first preseason game and just being able to get used to that. But, I mean, it was a fun day, and we just gotta keep taking one game at a time.

The line of the day came when Paopao was asked if her pregame routine changed at all from college:

It does look a little different. I had to speed things up a little today just cuz of how early our game was. And so I’m just gonna take little bits and pieces and see where I can find my niche in the pregame routine. What was new was that I had my own room. I also didn’t have to ask permission to leave the hotel—I thought that was so cool!

I think we can all relate to finding more independence upon leaving college. So here’s to a new Atlanta Dream season, and to not having to ask permission to leave the hotel on team trips.