2020 Atlanta Dream season
WNBA team season
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The 2020 WNBA season was the 13th season for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The season began on 26 July 2020, against the Dallas Wings.[1]
Head coachNicki Collen
ArenaOriginally: Gateway Center Arena
Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Record7–15 (.318)
Place4th (Eastern)
| 2020 Atlanta Dream season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Nicki Collen |
| Arena | Originally: Gateway Center Arena Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida |
| Results | |
| Record | 7–15 (.318) |
| Place | 4th (Eastern) |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
On 18 October 2019, the Dream unveiled a rebranded logo and color scheme ahead of the new season.[2] The team was originally scheduled to play its home games at the new Gateway Center Arena at College Park, electing to move from State Farm Arena in the 2019 off-season.[3] The WNBA season was to have a 36-game schedule, which would have been the most games in a season in league history.[4] However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on 3 April 2020 , when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Under a plan approved on 15 June 2020, the league is scheduled to hold a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans in attendance, beginning on 24 July 2020.[6][7]
The Dream started the season promisingly, winning two of their first three games, but then suffered a ten game losing streak. After the ten game losing streak was broken, the Dream lost their next two games to finish August with a 3–13 record, and a slim hope at making the playoffs. September proved to be a turn in fortunes for the Dream. They recorded four wins in five games to go into their final game against the Washington Mystics, with a chance to make the playoffs. However, Washington prevailed and the Dream missed the playoffs. Their overall winning percentage of .318 was the third worst in team history.
Transactions
WNBA draft
The Dream made the following selections in the 2020 WNBA draft.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/team/country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Chennedy Carter |  United States |
Texas A&M |
| 2 | 17 | Brittany Brewer | United States |
Texas Tech |
| 3 | 25 | Mikayla Pivec | United States |
Oregon State |
| 3 | 27 | Kobi Thornton | United States |
Clemson |
Trades and roster changes
| Date | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| January 21, 2020 | Exercised 4th-year Team tption on Marie Gülich and Monique Billings | |
| Extended a qualifying offer to Alaina Coates | ||
| January 22, 2020 | Renounced the rights to Celine Dumerc and Isabelle Yacoubou | |
| February 10, 2020 | Traded Brittney Sykes and Marie Gülich to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Kalani Brown[8] | |
| February 12, 2020 | Signed Glory Johnson[9] | |
| February 16, 2020 | Signed Shekinna Stricklen[10] | |
| February 18, 2020 | Claimed Alexis Jones off waivers[11] | |
| February 19, 2020 | Traded Jessica Breland and Nia Coffey to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Courtney Williams and the 17th pick in the 2020 WNBA draft from the Connecticut Sun, as part of a 3-team trade[12] | |
| February 23, 2020 | Signed Blake Dietrick to a training-camp contract[13] | |
| February 25, 2020 | Signed Elīna Babkina to a training-camp contract[14] | |
| April 16, 2020 | Signed Alaina Coates to a training-camp contract[15] | |
| April 19, 2020 | Signed Mikayla Pivec to a rookie-scale contract | |
| April 20, 2020 | Signed Brittany Brewer to a rookie-scale contract | |
| April 23, 2020 | Signed Chennedy Carter to a rookie-scale contract | |
| April 27, 2020 | Waived Alaina Coates | |
| May 23, 2020 | Waived Elīna Babkina[16] | |
| May 24, 2020 | Full season suspension of Maite Cazorla due to her sitting out the 2020 season for personal reasons[17] | |
| May 25, 2020 | Full season suspension of Mikayla Pivec due to her sitting out the 2020 season for personal reasons[18] | |
| June 18, 2020 | Renee Montgomery opted out of the 2020 season[19] | |
| June 23, 2020 | Tiffany Hayes opted out of the 2020 season[20] | |
| June 24, 2020 | Signed Betnijah Laney and Jaylyn Agnew[21] | |
| July 12, 2020 | Signed Erica McCall to a hardship contract[22] | |
| July 29, 2020 | Released Erica McCall from her Hhrdship contract | |
| August 23, 2020 | Waived Alexis Jones | |
| Signed Kaela Davis to a 7-day contract[23] | ||
| August 31, 2020 | Signed Kaela Davis to a 2nd 7-day contract | |
| September 7, 2020 | Signed Kaela Davis | |
Roster
| 2020 Atlanta Dream roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Depth
Schedule
Regular season
| 2020 game log Regular season total: 7–15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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July
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August
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September
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| 2020 season schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x – Las Vegas Aces | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 2 | x – Seattle Storm | 18 | 4 | .818 | – | 8–2 |
| 3 | x – Los Angeles Sparks | 15 | 7 | .682 | 3 | 5–5 |
| 4 | x – Minnesota Lynx | 14 | 8 | .636 | 4 | 4–6 |
| 5 | x – Phoenix Mercury | 13 | 9 | .591 | 5 | 4–6 |
| 6 | x – Chicago Sky | 12 | 10 | .545 | 6 | 6–4 |
| 7 | x – Connecticut Sun | 10 | 12 | .455 | 8 | 7–3 |
| 8 | x – Washington Mystics | 9 | 13 | .409 | 9 | 6–4 |
| 9 | e – Dallas Wings | 8 | 14 | .364 | 10 | 1–9 |
| 10 | e – Atlanta Dream | 7 | 15 | .318 | 11 | 5–5 |
| 11 | e – Indiana Fever | 6 | 16 | .273 | 12 | 4–6 |
| 12 | e – New York Liberty | 2 | 20 | .091 | 16 | 2–8 |
Notes
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
- Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.
- Updated to include results from September 13, 2020
- Source
Statistics
| Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage | TO | Turnovers per game |
| PF | Fouls per game | Team leader | League leader | ||||
Regular season
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chennedy Carter | 16 | 16 | 25.4 | 47.3 | 37.5 | 82.1 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 17.4 |
| Betnijah Laney | 22 | 22 | 33.3 | 48.1 | 40.5 | 82.7 | 4.9 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 17.2 |
| Courtney Williams | 20 | 14 | 30.5 | 43.6 | 23.5 | 69.6 | 7.2 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 14.6 |
| Elizabeth Williams | 22 | 22 | 29.2 | 48.9 | 0 | 74.2 | 5.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 10.1 |
| Monique Billings | 22 | 16 | 27.1 | 40.0 | 0 | 76.1 | 8.5 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 8.5 |
| Shekinna Stricklen | 22 | 15 | 21.7 | 34.1 | 33.3 | 100 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0 | 6.1 |
| Blake Dietrick | 22 | 4 | 21.0 | 47.1 | 44.8 | 62.5 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 5.9 |
| Glory Johnson | 18 | 1 | 15.1 | 37.3 | 26.2 | 50.0 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 4.7 |
| Kalani Brown | 10 | 0 | 6.1 | 52.2 | 0 | 60.0 | 1.2 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| Jaylyn Agnew | 12 | 0 | 5.9 | 26.7 | 23.1 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 |
| Brittany Brewer | 5 | 0 | 6.6 | 66.7 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Kaela Davis | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Awards and honors
| Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betnijah Laney | Most Improved Player | September 24 | [24] |
| WNBA All-Defense 1st Team | September 29 | [25] | |
| Chennedy Carter | All-Rookie Team | September 27 | [26] |
| Elizabeth Williams | WNBA All-Defense 1st Team | September 29 | [25] |