The Atlanta Dream signed coach Tanisha Wright and general manager Dan Padover to five-year extensions through 2027, the team announced Tuesday. The financial terms of the contracts were not disclosed. Here’s what you need to know:
- Wright joined Atlanta ahead of the 2022 season and was named AP Coach of the Year. Her first season saw Rhyne Howard win Rookie of the Year honors.
- Padover, a two-time WNBA Executive of the Year, brought eight new players to the team last season and orchestrated a trade for the No. 1 pick in the draft that netted the team Howard.
Backstory
The Dream were sold in February 2021 to a group led by Larry Gottesdiener after WNBA players and the public called for co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler to sell the franchise. The three-member investor group comprises former Dream star Renee Montgomery, Suzanne Abair and Gottesdiener.
Advertisement
Atlanta went 8-24 in 2021 under former coaches Mike Petersen and Darius Taylor and then 14-22 in 2022 under Wright.
Investing in the future
The Dream went through a massive organizational and cultural overhaul in 2022, bringing in a first-year head coach and a new general manager while retaining only four players from the previous season. While the Dream were still left on the outside of the playoff picture (though they may have been by design to secure another lottery pick in 2023), the successful seasons of Howard, fellow rookie Naz Hillmon and second-year guard Aari McDonald left the Dream bullish on their future, thus the long-term investment in the front-office core of Wright and Padover. — Merchant
Atlanta’s path to success
Wright was the second-place finisher for Coach of the Year in 2022 and helped Atlanta finish with a defensive rating in the league’s top half despite fielding a rotation that often included six players with 0-1 years of WNBA experience. Padover executed the trade to move up in the draft to select Howard, who the Dream hope will be a foundational piece in Atlanta similar to A’ja Wilson in Las Vegas. That’s the blueprint the Dream are working off of since both Wright and Padover came from the Aces organization. They have their coach in place (another former player and point guard like Becky Hammon) and a No. 1 pick who became a rookie All-Star, and this a sign that ownership trusts Wright and Padover to keep following that path to success, even if takes a few years. — Merchant
What they’re saying
“We are essentially building the Atlanta Dream from scratch, and that takes time,” Gottesdiener said in a release. “What Tanisha and Dan accomplished with this team in less than a year is extraordinary, and is something that should put the sports world on notice of exciting things to come from our franchise.”
Advertisement
“I feel extremely blessed to partner with an organization that has a long-term perspective, is willing to invest heavily, and honors the work that Dan and I are doing to build an organization in the right way,” Wright said. “Our staff and players set a foundation last year and knowing that ownership trusts us to accomplish the goals that we have all set is exciting. This level of commitment and stability will allow us to take the long view as we build our team and our culture, and attract quality professionals and players in pursuit of a championship.”
Added Padover: “When we started on this journey, I had the belief that this ownership group and this leadership team could build something special here in Atlanta. I am even more confident in that belief today. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are all looking forward to the challenge of making the Dream a perennial championship contender.”
(Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2lpam9jbHxzfJFrZmpqX2d9cLDRnpimZaSWu6q%2Fx5pksKqZnLW1ecOapWaokZm8t7HRZpqopqSnrqTAjg%3D%3D