Atlanta’s Next Young Superstar

With the WNBA heading into the season’s final stretch, former Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard has cemented her place as one of the league’s future stars. Howard and Tanisha Wright have the Dream in the postseason as the last team in if the season ended today. Last season, Atlanta finished second to last in the WNBA, only mustering eight wins en route to trading for the top selection in the draft. Howard’s presence reinvents this club’s trajectory, which had been in the basement for the last three seasons. The team now has a reason to invest and build behind a versatile guard with many tools that make it almost impossible to defend her.

The 2022 No. 1 overall pick currently averages 15.2 points per game along with 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and an astounding 1.5 rejections per contest. She is a superstar with an elite offensive package and the length to be one of the most effective and underrated defenders in the entire WNBA. From the electric offensive game that is Trae Young to the five-tool talent of Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta is spoiled with talent, and Howard is slowly becoming a figure that the entire city should not ignore despite her playing a sport that is not viewed as mainstream.

C/O: Getty Images/Just Women’s Sports

Before the All-Star break, Howard spoke on what it is like playing in a city like Atlanta, stating, “Atlanta is a really fun city and it’s super great. It’s a sports city, so all of our games are close to sold out or sold out. Just to be in there and be around that environment is just fun in itself...I think Atlanta is a great place for a rookie.”

She was the only rookie to make the All-Star Game. And while other players like Shakira Austin continue to show what they can do at the pro level, Howard has won WNBA Rookie of the Month each time so far this season. In May, she was voted the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and has unexpectedly led Atlanta to the brink of their first appearance since losing to the Washington Mystics in the Conference Finals in 2018. In addition, she and Cheyenne Parker have developed a chemistry that makes the Dream a team that no team can overlook heading into the most crucial point in the season.

Howard’s talent and ability to get her shot whenever she wants, from beyond the arc to a pull-up jump shot, is something to behold. She is listed on the box score as a guard, but in reality, she is far more than someone with a handle on the perimeter. Howard hustles back on the defensive end, prevents fast break points, and denies smaller guards opportunities that others around the league simply can’t.

Howard was their first No. 1 overall selection since the Dream drafted former Louisville guard Angel McCoughty, who helped lead them to three WNBA Finals. However, not even McCoughty had as successful a rookie season as Howard is having at the moment. Atlanta could have their hands on its first WNBA Rookie of the Year since McCoughty, but there is a difference. McCoughty averaged just under 13 points per game and did not make the All-Star team. In contrast, Howard has blown the top off the league and put a team far from on the map to heading in the right direction on both ends of the floor.

The Hawks’ defense behind Young at the guard position was ranked 26th in the NBA. However, with Howard’s guidance, the Dream possesses the fourth-best defensive rating in the entire WNBA. Defense wins championships, and if this city is going to see a basketball team win a title anytime soon, it will be the team anchored by the two-way talent of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, native from the University of Kentucky.

And despite being so young and having so much room to grow, Howard is the definition of a complete player. The phenom shoots over 47 percent from three and over 50 percent from inside the arc. Howard is the only player in the top 20 for minutes played who shoots over 52 percent from inside the three-point line and over 47 percent three.

Given the talent that the rest of the league possesses and the depth that the top-four teams in the league have, it is unlikely that the Dream will be able to make a run in the postseason. Fortunately, Atlanta has something special in Howard.

She scored 33 points in just her fourth ever game as a pro, joining a list that features just six other players in league history. She is top-16 in the league in total points and top-20 in blocks, on top of being one of the eight players in the entire WNBA this season to score 33 or more points. Howard also has the third-highest point total from a player in a Commissioner’s Cup contest, behind only the cemented talent of Arike Ogunbowale and A’ja Wilson, who both scored 35 or more in the in-season competition.

She is the only rookie to have three or more games of 20 or more points this season. Not even Maya Moore, Elena Delle Donne, and Tina Charles could muster up 33 points in a single game in their rookie seasons. It is difficult for fans around the league to come to terms with the fact that Howard is only 22 years old and is just a rookie despite playing like a player that could someday be an MVP. If she were to score 30 points once again before the season ends, she would be the second player in league history to score 30 or more points as a rookie twice, along with Ogunbowale.

C/O: The Canadian Press

The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Howard; with her youth, the city will be in for a treat in the foreseeable future. The Hawks may have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals just a few years ago, but in reality, the Dream will have the most talented basketball player in the city in just a few years due to her ability to do it all on both ends of the floor. For a franchise that has been to three conference finals and never gotten over that hump, Howard is the individual who will get them there. Few players in the league’s history possess the talents of a three-level scorer on top of being nearly as productive on the defensive end.

If there was ever a question of if Howard should have been the No. 1 overall pick, it was stymied in the first week of her in an Atlanta uniform. She frequently turns the ball over, but that will come for a player being used as the center of an offense. With time, Howard will grow more aware of certain situations, but for now, Howard is playing far beyond her years. She not only passes the statistical test, but Howard is also must-watch TV every night the Dream are on. She has the innate ability to captivate an audience that few in the WNBA possess.

The future is not only bright for Howard and the Dream, but the city of Atlanta has won a special player that holds talents that could potentially take the city by storm in the near future.