Just a day after telling reporters in a practice media availability that she wasn’t 100% and had to give herself grace, Allisha Gray led the Atlanta Dream to a massive Game 6 victory with her best game of the finals. Gray’s injured finger barely even seemed to bother her. She knocked down five 3-pointers on her way to 23 points and also recorded 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks.
It was her first efficient shooting game since she suffered the injury in Game 1 of the semifinals against the New York Liberty. Gray sat out the other two games, as her teammates swept the Liberty without her. When she returned for the finals, she struggled to make shots. Her highest field-goal percentage in the first five games was 36.4%.
In Game 6, when her team needed her to step up more than ever, Gray shot 66.7%, making her injury seem completely irrelevant. But the job is not done yet. Atlanta has one more game to win, and Gray will be key to delivering the Dream their first championship. Playing through an injury on your shooting hand is not easy physically or mentally, but Gray will have to do it one more time, and she knows it.
“The coaches and my teammates did challenge me, and I think I stepped up to the challenge,” Gray said in the postgame media availability. “I know going into Game 7 not to take the foot off the gas, and I feel like I can take it to even another level.”
This moment has been years in the making
When Dan Padover took over as the General Manager in Atlanta, his first big move was to trade the third and fourteenth picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft and a 2023 pick-swap to the Washington Mystics for the top pick and an opportunity to draft Rhyne Howard. The Mystics still made out pretty well in that deal, as they landed Shakira Austin, who was just named to the All-WNBA Second Team and All-Defensive First Team.
After Howard’s rookie season, the Dream traded the third overall pick in the 2023 draft and a 2025 first-round pick to the Dallas Wings for Allisha Gray.
Gray and Howard led the Dream to their first playoff appearance since 2018. It took a few more additions—most notably Jordin Canada and Angel Reese—and a few years of first-round disappointments, but four seasons after Gray came to Atlanta the duo brought the organization within one win of its first championship.
The Dream won that trade easily. The Wings used one pick they got for Gray to draft Maddy Siegrist and sent the other to the Washington Mystics for Stephanie Soares. Siegrist has been a fine role player, but Soares has only played 22 games for the Wings so far. Gray, on the other hand, is one of the best players on a championship contender.
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