The Atlanta Dream have 16 days without a WNBA game.
For most teams, you’d call that a break.
For Atlanta, I’m not sure that’s the right word.
The Dream enter the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup pause at 26-14, having won four of their final five games before the break and coming off an 89-81 victory over the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. Atlanta has already clinched a playoff spot and currently owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 26-14 Indiana Fever in the battle for first-round home-court advantage.
But Atlanta also has something unusual happening during these next two weeks.
Four Dream players are headed to the World Cup.
And while that creates an obvious challenge for Karl Smesko, I actually think this break could give Atlanta an opportunity to fix the few things standing between this team and a legitimate championship run.
Four Dream Players Are Headed to Berlin
Angel Reese and Rhyne Howard will represent the United States at the World Cup, while Isobel Borlase will play for Australia and Sika Koné will represent Mali.
That’s significant.
Atlanta won’t be able to spend the entire break running full practices with its complete roster. Smesko acknowledged exactly that when discussing his plans for the pause, saying the Dream won’t have four of their players available for full-team work.
Normally, I’d look at that as a negative.
But there’s another side to this.
Reese and Howard aren’t exactly spending two weeks sitting on the couch.
They’re going to be playing meaningful international basketball against some of the best players in the world.
And for Reese specifically, the timing couldn’t be more interesting.
Angel Reese Is Leaving Atlanta Playing the Best Basketball of Her Career
Reese was just named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.
During the latest three-game stretch, she averaged 14.4 points, 17.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals, helping Atlanta go 2-1.
But those numbers don’t fully explain what she’s doing.
Reese grabbed a WNBA-record 26 rebounds against Los Angeles and surpassed A’ja Wilson’s previous single-season rebounding record of 451.
Then she finished the stretch against Minnesota with her 29th double-double, establishing another WNBA single-season record. She now owns league records for rebounds in a game, rebounds in a season, offensive rebounds in a season and double-doubles in a season.
That’s absurd.
And now instead of sitting for more than two weeks, Reese gets to take that momentum directly into Team USA competition.
The same is true for Howard.
Howard enters the break with 128 made three-pointers, tied with Sabrina Ionescu’s WNBA single-season record. One more when Atlanta returns would give Howard the record outright.
Atlanta’s two stars aren’t really taking a break.
They’re getting high-level reps.
Meanwhile, Smesko Gets Something Every Coach Wants
This might actually be the most important part.
Time.
Smesko essentially admitted that he plans to use the break as an opportunity to evaluate Atlanta specifically through a playoff lens.
Rather than trying to change seven or eight different things, Smesko said he wants to identify roughly three or four areas the Dream can improve before postseason basketball begins.
I love that approach.
Because Atlanta doesn’t need an overhaul.
This team is 26-14.
The Dream just beat Minnesota.
They’ve already clinched a playoff berth.
Reese is breaking records.
Howard is one three-pointer away from breaking another.
And Atlanta just added DeWanna Bonner, one of the most experienced postseason players in WNBA history.
The foundation is there.
The next two weeks should be about cleaning up the details.
And DeWanna Bonner Might Benefit More Than Anyone
This is the part of the World Cup break that I think could quietly become huge.
Bonner made her Dream debut against Minnesota on August 30 after joining Atlanta following her departure from Phoenix.
Think about how strange that timing normally would be.
You add a major veteran piece with four games remaining and immediately have to figure out rotations, chemistry and postseason roles while simultaneously trying to win games that determine playoff seeding.
Instead, Atlanta essentially gets an extended installation period.
Yes, four Dream players are overseas.
But Smesko and his staff now have time to determine exactly how Bonner fits into the rotation before the games that matter most.
That’s incredibly valuable.
Bonner doesn’t need to become the focal point of Atlanta’s offense.
The Dream already have enough stars.
They need Bonner to become the piece that makes everything else easier.
The Final Four Games Are Going to Be Massive
When Atlanta returns, there’s no easing back into things.
The Dream host Connecticut on September 17 and Chicago on September 19 before finishing the regular season with consecutive road games against New York on September 21 and September 23.
Those final two could have enormous playoff implications.
Atlanta and Indiana are both 26-14, with the Dream currently holding the tiebreaker. New York sits at 24-16 and is still fighting for positioning itself.
Four games.
That’s it.
There won’t be much time to experiment once the league resumes.
Which is why these next two weeks matter.
Atlanta Has a Chance to Come Back Even Better
The Dream couldn’t have entered this break in a much better position.
They’re winning.
Their newest addition gets time to learn the system.
Their coaching staff gets time to study potential playoff opponents.
And two of their most important players will spend the pause competing alongside and against some of the best basketball players on the planet.
There is certainly risk involved. International basketball adds additional workload when Atlanta is only weeks away from the postseason, and Smesko won’t have his complete roster together for most of the break.
But if everyone returns healthy?
I think Atlanta could come out of this pause better than it went into it.
And that’s scary.
Because the Dream team that went into the World Cup break was already good enough to beat the best team in the WNBA.
If Smesko uses these 16 days to find those final three or four improvements, Atlanta might return looking less like a team hoping to make playoff noise and more like one nobody wants to see in a three-game series.
