The Mist’s revamped roster around Breanna Stewart has an abundance of talent, size, and versatility. The sheer amount of talent on the roster led to some difficult decisions for head coach Zach O’Brien. Stewart, Allisha Gray, Arike Ogunbowale, Veronica Burton, and Alanna Smith are all full-time starters in the W and could start in Unrivaled as well. Nevertheless, two of them would have to come off the bench.
O’Brien experimented with some lineups early on. In the first game, Stewart, Gray, and Burton started. Then, Ogunbowale and Smith replaced Gray and Burton in the starting lineup for the second game. In the third game, Burton and Smith started alongside Stewart, and Gray came off the bench once again.
Seeing Gray come off the bench was surprising, even given all the talent on the team’s roster. Gray returned to the starting lineup in the Mist’s fourth game, and, barring some injuries, the starting trio of Stewart, Gray, and Burton doesn’t seem likely to change again. Starting Gray is the right decision for the Mist.
Allisha Gray thrives in Unrivaled
Allisha Gray is one of the players who looks like they were built for Unrivaled’s fast-paced three-on-three style of play. Her ability to score from all three levels makes her a matchup nightmare and almost impossible to guard one-on-one.
Seven games into the season, Gray is the Mist’s leading scorer. Even when she came off the bench for the first time, she led the team in points and +/-. Gray only scored fewer than 20 points once and put up at least 27 points in four of her seven games. She ranks third in points per game across the league behind only Chelsea Gray and Marina Mabrey despite averaging just 16.6 minutes per game. For comparison, both Gray and Mabrey play over 20 minutes per game.
Gray is also getting her points very efficiently, converting 48% of her 17.9 field goal attempts per game. Moreover, Gray ranks eighth in 3-point percentage while taking significantly more shots than five of the players ranked ahead of her.
After an MVP-level season in the WNBA, Gray is now also one of the top candidates for the Unrivaled MVP award—something she reiterated with a 27-point performance in a close win over the Vinyl that secured the Mist a 5-2 record and second place in the standings.
If Mist BC goes on a title run, Allisha Gray will be a big reason for the team’s success. So, she will need to play big minutes. Plus, Ogunbowale is playing well as a scoring punch off the bench. She just had her two best consecutive scoring games of the season, dropping 21 points against the Rose and 18 points against Vinyl.