2020 Atlanta Dream season

2020 Atlanta Dream season
Coach	Nicki Collen
Arena	Originally: Gateway Center Arena Rescheduled to: IMG Academy gymnasiums, Bradenton, Florida
Attendance	0 per game
Results
Record	7–15 (.318)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Chennedy Carter – 17.4
Rebounds	Monique Billings – 8.5
Assists	Betnijah Laney – 4.0
← 2019 season 2021 season →

The 2020 WNBA season was the 13th season for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association. The team began its season on July 26, 2020, against the Dallas Wings. ^[1]

On October 18, 2019, the Dream unveiled a rebrand of their logo and color scheme for their upcoming season. ^[2] The Dream was originally scheduled to start play its home games at the new Gateway Center Arena at College Park, electing to move from State Farm Arena in the 2019 off-season. ^[3] The WNBA season was to have a 36-game schedule, which would have been the most games in a season in league history. ^[4] However, the plan for expanded games was put on hold on April 3, when the WNBA postponed its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[5] Under a plan approved on June 15, the league is scheduled to hold a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present, starting on July 24. ^{[6] [7]}

The Dream started the season promisingly, winning two of their first three games. That promise was short lived, as the team lost their next ten games in a row. After the ten game losing streak was broken, the Dream lost their next two games to finish August with a 3–13 record, and a slim hope at making the playoffs. September proved to be a turn in fortunes for the Dream. They recorded four wins in five games to go into their final game against the Washington Mystics, with a chance to make the playoffs. However, Washington prevailed and the Dream missed the playoffs. Their overall winning percentage of .318 was the third worst in team history.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2020 WNBA draft

The Dream made the following selections in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
1	4	Chennedy Carter	United States	Texas A&M
2	17	Brittany Brewer	United States	Texas Tech
3	25	Mikayla Pivec	United States	Oregon State
3	27	Kobi Thornton	United States	Clemson

Trades and roster changes

Date	Details
January 21, 2020	Exercised 4th-year Team tption on Marie Gülich and Monique Billings
	Extended a qualifying offer to Alaina Coates
January 22, 2020	Renounced the rights to Celine Dumerc and Isabelle Yacoubou
February 10, 2020	Traded Brittney Sykes and Marie Gülich to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Kalani Brown [8]
February 12, 2020	Signed Glory Johnson [9]
February 16, 2020	Signed Shekinna Stricklen [10]
February 18, 2020	Claimed Alexis Jones off waivers [11]
February 19, 2020	Traded Jessica Breland and Nia Coffey to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Courtney Williams and the 17th pick in the 2020 WNBA draft from the Connecticut Sun, as part of a 3-team trade [12]
February 23, 2020	Signed Blake Dietrick to a training-camp contract [13]
February 25, 2020	Signed Elīna Babkina to a training-camp contract [14]
April 16, 2020	Signed Alaina Coates to a training-camp contract [15]
April 19, 2020	Signed Mikayla Pivec to a rookie-scale contract
April 20, 2020	Signed Brittany Brewer to a rookie-scale contract
April 23, 2020	Signed Chennedy Carter to a rookie-scale contract
April 27, 2020	Waived Alaina Coates
May 23, 2020	Waived Elīna Babkina [16]
May 24, 2020	Full season suspension of Maite Cazorla due to her sitting out the 2020 season due to personal reasons [17]
May 25, 2020	Full season suspension of Mikayla Pivec due to her sitting out the 2020 season due to personal reasons [18]
June 18, 2020	Renee Montgomery opted out of the 2020 season [19]
June 23, 2020	Tiffany Hayes opted out of the 2020 season [20]
June 24, 2020	Signed Betnijah Laney and Jaylyn Agnew [21]
July 12, 2020	Signed Erica McCall to a hardship contract [22]
July 29, 2020	Released Erica McCall from her Hhrdship contract
August 23, 2020	Waived Alexis Jones
	Signed Kaela Davis to a 7-day contract [23]
August 31, 2020	Signed Kaela Davis to a 2nd 7-day contract
September 7, 2020	Signed Kaela Davis

Roster

2020 Atlanta Dream roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs F 5 Agnew, Jaylyn 5' 11" (1.8m) 149 lb (68kg) 07-21-1997 Creighton R F 25 Billings, Monique 6' 4" (1.93m) 192 lb (87kg) 05-02-1996 UCLA 2 F 20 Brewer, Brittany 6' 5" (1.96m) 182 lb (83kg) 11-06-1997 Texas Tech R C 22 Brown, Kalani 6' 7" (2.01m) 245 lb (111kg) 03-21-1997 Baylor 1 G 3 Carter, Chennedy 5' 9" (1.75m) 143 lb (65kg) 11-14-1998 Texas A&M R F 33 Davis, Kaela 6' 2" (1.88m) 170 lb (77kg) 03-15-1995 South Carolina 3 G 11 Dietrick, Blake 5' 10" (1.78m) 169 lb (77kg) 07-19-1993 Princeton 3 F 0 Johnson, Glory 6' 3" (1.91m) 170 lb (77kg) 07-27-1990 Tennessee 7 G/F 44 Laney, Betnijah 6' 0" (1.83m) 166 lb (75kg) 10-29-1993 Rutgers 4 F 40 Stricklen, Shekinna 6' 2" (1.88m) 230 lb (104kg) 07-30-1990 Tennessee 8 G 10 Williams, Courtney 5' 8" (1.73m) 133 lb (60kg) 05-11-1994 South Florida 4 F/C 1 Williams, Elizabeth 6' 3" (1.91m) 200 lb (91kg) 06-23-1993 Duke 5	Head coach Nicki Collen (Marquette) Assistant coaches Mike Peterson (Bushnell) Darius Taylor (Michigan) Athletic trainer Natalie Trotter Strength and conditioning coach Jamal Baptiste Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Elizabeth Williams	Kalani Brown Brittany Brewer
PF	Monique Billings	Glory Johnson
SF	Betnijah Laney	Shekinna Stricklen Kaela Davis
SG	Courtney Williams	Jaylyn Agnew
PG	Chennedy Carter	Blake Dietrick

Schedule

Regular season

2020 game log Regular season total: 7–15
July Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 July 26 Dallas W 105–95 Billings (30) Billings (13) Carter (8) IMG Academy 1–0 2 July 29 Las Vegas L 70–100 E. Williams (16) Billings (7) Tied (4) IMG Academy 1–1 3 July 31 New York W 84–78 Laney (30) Billings (15) Carter (3) IMG Academy 2–1
August Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 4 August 2 Indiana L 77–93 C. Williams (18) Billings (8) Laney (6) IMG Academy 2–2 5 August 4 Phoenix L 74–81 Carter (26) C. Williams (9) Laney (5) IMG Academy 2–3 6 August 6 Seattle L 92–93 Carter (35) C. Williams (10) Carter (7) IMG Academy 2–4 7 August 8 Dallas L 75–85 Laney (16) Tied (7) 3 tied (3) IMG Academy 2–5 8 August 10 Connecticut L 82–93 Stricklen (18) C. Williams (7) Dietrick (6) IMG Academy 2–6 9 August 12 Seattle L 63–100 Laney (17) Tied (7) Dietrick (4) IMG Academy 2–7 10 August 14 Phoenix L 80–96 Laney (16) C. Williams (14) Dietrick (7) IMG Academy 2–8 11 August 16 Chicago L 67–92 C. Williams (15) Billings (8) Tied (4) IMG Academy 2–9 12 August 19 Washington L 91–98 Laney (35) Billings (12) C. Williams (7) IMG Academy 2–10 13 August 21 Los Angeles L 85–93 (OT) Johnson (23) Billings (9) Laney (11) IMG Academy 2–11 14 August 23 Minnesota W 78–75 Tied (16) Billings (13) Laney (10) IMG Academy 3–11 15 August 28 Minnesota L 79–88 Laney (22) C. Williams (10) Tied (5) IMG Academy 3–12 16 August 30 Los Angeles L 79–84 Carter (26) Billings (14) Dietrick (5) IMG Academy 3–13
September Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 17 September 1 Indiana W 102–90 Tied (22) Johnson (8) Carter (6) IMG Academy 4–13 18 September 3 New York W 62–56 C. Williams (15) C. Williams (13) Laney (3) IMG Academy 5–13 19 September 5 Las Vegas L 79–89 Laney (21) 3 tied (7) Carter (6) IMG Academy 5–14 20 September 9 Chicago W 97–89 Laney (24) 3 tied (10) Tied (5) IMG Academy 6–14 21 September 11 Connecticut W 82–75 Carter (22) Laney (10) Tied (4) IMG Academy 7–14 22 September 13 Washington L 78–85 Laney (27) C. Williams (11) Dietrick (4) IMG Academy 7–15
2020 season schedule

Standings

#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Conf.
1	x – Las Vegas Aces	18	4	.818	–	8–2
2	x – Seattle Storm	18	4	.818	–	8–2
3	x – Los Angeles Sparks	15	7	.682	3	5–5
4	x – Minnesota Lynx	14	8	.636	4	4–6
5	x – Phoenix Mercury	13	9	.591	5	4–6
6	x – Chicago Sky	12	10	.545	6	6–4
7	x – Connecticut Sun	10	12	.455	8	7–3
8	x – Washington Mystics	9	13	.409	9	6–4
9	e – Dallas Wings	8	14	.364	10	1–9
10	e – Atlanta Dream	7	15	.318	11	5–5
11	e – Indiana Fever	6	16	.273	12	4–6
12	e – New York Liberty	2	20	.091	16	2–8

• v
• t
• e

Notes

x – Clinched playoff berth

e – Eliminated from playoffs

Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.

Updated to include results from September 13, 2020

Source

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Chennedy Carter	16	16	25.4	47.3	37.5	82.1	2.3	3.4	0.9	0.3	17.4
Betnijah Laney	22	22	33.3	48.1	40.5	82.7	4.9	4.0	1.6	0.1	17.2
Courtney Williams	20	14	30.5	43.6	23.5	69.6	7.2	3.2	0.7	0.1	14.6
Elizabeth Williams	22	22	29.2	48.9	0	74.2	5.7	1.4	0.8	1.4	10.1
Monique Billings	22	16	27.1	40.0	0	76.1	8.5	1.2	1.1	0.8	8.5
Shekinna Stricklen	22	15	21.7	34.1	33.3	100	1.9	0.6	0.3	0	6.1
Blake Dietrick	22	4	21.0	47.1	44.8	62.5	1.6	3.4	0.8	0.1	5.9
Glory Johnson	18	1	15.1	37.3	26.2	50.0	3.7	0.6	0.8	0.4	4.7
Kalani Brown	10	0	6.1	52.2	0	60.0	1.2	0	0.1	0.1	3.0
Jaylyn Agnew	12	0	5.9	26.7	23.1	80.0	0.4	0.3	0	0	1.3
Brittany Brewer	5	0	6.6	66.7	0	0	1.0	0	0.6	0.8	0.8
Kaela Davis	2	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Betnijah Laney	Most Improved Player	September 24	[24]
	WNBA All-Defense 1st Team	September 29	[25]
Chennedy Carter	All-Rookie Team	September 27	[26]
Elizabeth Williams	WNBA All-Defense 1st Team	September 29	[25]

References

1. "Atlanta Dream 2020 Season Schedule". WNBA.com. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
2. "Atlanta Dream Unveil Bold New Brand". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
3. "Atlanta Dream Announces New Home Court at Gateway Center in College Park" (Press release). Atlanta Dream. October 18, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
4. "Atlanta Dream Announce 2020 Schedule - Atlanta Dream". dream.wnba.com. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
5. "WNBA Statement Regarding the Start of the 2020 Regular Season". April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
6. "WNBA Announces Plan To Tip Off 2020 Season". WNBA. June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
7. "WNBA announces plans for 2020 season to start late July in Florida". NBC Sports Washington. June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
8. "Dream Acquire Kalani Brown From Los Angeles". dream.wnba.com. Atlanta Dream. February 10, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
9. "Atlanta Dream Sign Free-Agent Forward Glory Johnson". dream.wnba.com. Atlanta Dream. February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
10. "Shekinna Stricklen Signs Multi-Year Deal with Dream". dream.wnba.com. Atlanta Dream. February 16, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
11. "Atlanta Dream Claim Alexis Jones Off Waivers". dream.wnba.com. Atlanta Dream. February 18, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
12. "Dream Acquire Courtney Williams In Three-Team Trade". dream.wnba.com. Atlanta Dream. February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
13. "Blake Dietrick Returning to Atlanta Dream". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
14. "Atlanta Dream Signs Guard Elīna Babkina". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
15. Atlanta Dream PR [@ATLDreamPR] (April 16, 2020). "TRANSACTION: Atlanta Dream sign Alaina Coates to a training camp contract" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
16. Atlanta Dream PR [@ATLDreamPR] (May 23, 2020). "TRANSACTION: The Dream have waived Elīna Babkina" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
17. Atlanta Dream PR [@ATLDreamPR] (May 24, 2020). "Maite Cazorla has chosen to stay in Spain and will miss the 2020 Atlanta Dream season due to personal reasons. We look forward to welcoming her back in 2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
18. Atlanta Dream PR [@ATLDreamPR] (May 25, 2020). "Mikayla Pivec has chosen to sit out the 2020 WNBA season for personal reasons and will be suspended by the Atlanta Dream. We look forward to having Pivec attend training camp in 2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
19. "Montgomery to Miss 2020 Atlanta Dream Season". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
20. "Hayes Opts Out for 2020 Season". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
21. "Dream Add Free Agents Laney, Agnew". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
22. "Atlanta Signs Free Agent Forward Erica McCall". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
23. "Atlanta Signs Free Agent Forward-Guard Kaela Davis". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
24. "Atlanta Dream's Betnijah Laney Named 2020 Most Improved Player". wnba.com. WNBA. September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
25. "Two Atlanta Dream Players And Seattle Storm's Alysha Clark Headline 2020 WNBA All-Defensive Team". wnba.com. WNBA. September 29, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
26. "Rookie Of The Year Crystal Dangerfield Headlines 2020 WNBA All-Rookie Team". wnba.com. WNBA. September 27, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.

External links

• Official site of the Atlanta Dream