The month-long Olympic Break can’t come soon enough for the Atlanta Dream (7-16).
Losers of seven-straight games, the Dream will wrap up their first stretch of the season with a visit to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday (1 p.m. ET, League Pass). If the game resembles the first two contests between the two teams, another unfavorable result likely is on the way for Atlanta. Minnesota unleashed an offensive onslaught in late May, winning 92-79. In the mid-June matchup, an inability to score sunk the Dream in a 68-55 loss.
Win or lose on Wednesday, the Dream will sit in ninth place, out of the playoff picture. And because they do not own their 2025 first-round draft pick, the prospect of some lottery luck provides no solace for frustrated fans.
It’s easy, and not wrong, to attribute Atlanta’s bleak situation to injury. Rhyne Howard is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday after missing 10 games due to the ankle injury she suffered last time the Dream traveled to Minnesota. Jordin Canada has played just four games, as her comeback from the hand injury that kept her out of the first 14 games of the season soon was followed by a broken finger. Aerial Powers, Atlanta’s off-the-bench energy booster, also has missed seven games, the majority of them due to a calf…
