The Atlanta Dream made a lot of changes in the offseason, signing Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones and hiring Karl Smesko to take over as the team’s head coach. Smesko has his team firing on all cylinders, contending with Minnesota, Phoenix, Seattle, and New York at the top of the regular-season standings.
Allisha Gray, especially, is thriving in the new system, averaging career highs in scoring and securing a spot as an All-Star starter. She is even making a quiet MVP case.
Gray is not the only player who is thriving in Smesko’s system. Naz Hillmon is also playing incredibly well. A part of her success this season can be attributed to her much-improved 3-point shot.
Naz Hillmon is having a career year from three
For most of her career, Naz Hillmon was not a threat from long range. Over her first three seasons in the league, Hillmon only took a total of six threes. She made only one in 2024 in a 92-79 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
This season, she has already taken 54 threes, including a career-high seven in a 90-81 win over the Golden State Valkyries. Hillmon has made 19 of her threes, shooting 35.2 percent over 19 games. Hillmon is, in fact, the Dream’s third-best volume 3-point shooter at the moment behind only Te-Hina Paopao and Allisha Gray.
The 25-year-old’s improved 3-point shooting has allowed her to thrive in Karl Smesko’s system and to play alongside both Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones. The latter has also upped her 3-point attempts but not at the same level as Hillmon.
Hillmon is one of six Dream players averaging at least 20 minutes a game and has been a reliable reserve for the Dream, leading the bench in points, rebounds, and assists. She is certainly making a case for Sixth Player of the Year.
Atlanta is putting together a strong season
Since drafting Rhyne Howard in 2022, the Dream made the playoffs twice. Both times, they lost in the first round. This season may be different. Atlanta firmly established itself as one of the best teams in the league this season. Wins over the Fever, Storm, and Liberty proved that the Dream could hang with some of the best competition in the WNBA. Hillmon has been a big part of that success.
If the Dream continue to play well, Karl Smesko and his squad should enter the playoffs with home-court advantage and a chance to win a series for the first time since 2018.