Atlanta Dream: The WNBA's Rising Force in College Park

From expansion team to Finals regular

The Atlanta Dream joined the WNBA as an expansion team and tipped off in 2008. The first year was rough: a 4-30 record that included a 17-game losing streak. The turnaround came fast. Behind forward Angel McCoughtry, who starred for the Dream from 2009 to 2019, Atlanta reached the WNBA Finals in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The title has not come yet, but those runs made the Dream a fixture of the city's sports calendar.

A home of its own in College Park

For years the Dream shared the downtown arena now called State Farm Arena with the Hawks. In 2021 the team moved to Gateway Center Arena in College Park, just south of the city. Opened in November 2019, the arena seats about 3,500 for basketball, so fans sit close to the action and the noise carries. The Dream still bring some big games, including playoff dates, to State Farm Arena when demand calls for more seats.

The $45 million building also hosts the College Park Skyhawks of the NBA G League, plus concerts and community events. Its compact bowl gives Dream games a lively, neighborhood feel, and the arena is a short drive from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The rise under Karl Smesko

Coach Karl Smesko arrived for 2025 and the Dream took off. Atlanta went 30-14, earned the No. 3 seed, and sent Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard and Brionna Jones to the All-Star Game. Gray made the All-WNBA First Team, Naz Hillmon was named Sixth Player of the Year, and general manager Dan Padover won Executive of the Year. The season ended with a three-game first round loss to Indiana.

2026: Angel Reese and a deep playoff run

In April 2026 the Dream traded for two-time All-Star Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky, adding a forward who had led the league with 12.6 rebounds per game and 23 double-doubles the year before to a core of Gray, Howard, Hillmon and point guard Jordin Canada. That starting five posted the best net rating of any regular WNBA lineup, while rookies Madina Okot and Isobel Borlase chipped in off the bench. Atlanta clinched a fourth straight playoff berth on August 22 and finished 31-13 as the No. 4 seed.

In the first round the Dream swept the Washington Mystics, closing the series with a 93-75 win on September 30 behind 22 points from Gray and 19 points and 11 assists from Canada. It was Atlanta's first playoff series win since 2018, setting up a semifinal against the New York Liberty that opens at State Farm Arena in early October.

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