WNBA: It’s been a nightmare season for the Atlanta Dream

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 injury.

Offensive woes in ATL

Photo by Dale Zanine/NBAE via Getty Images

Injury-induced absences, particularly those of Howard and Canada, have exacerbated the Dream’s woes, especially on the offensive end. Howard is supposed to be the team’s offensive engine, with Canada as the offensive organizer. Without the pair, the offense has been pitiful. The Dream score a league-low 75.0 points per game, which is more than three points per game worse than the second-lowest scoring team. Over their seven-game losing streak, scoring has been even more difficult, as the team has averaged just 72.9 points per game.

The offense, however, wasn’t exactly humming with Howard. In the 13 games she played, the Dream had an offensive rating of 94.8. Without her, the offensive rating is 92.3; for the full season, it’s 93.7. Regardless of who has or has not been available, finding and maintaining an offensive flow has been challenge for the Dream. The ball rarely pings around the halfcourt; instead, every player often takes a beat or two before making the next pass, attacking the basket or taking a shot, thereby failing to bend the defense and, in turn, demanding that the Dream offense live by tough shots, whether that be a running hook or short fadeaway from Tina Charles, a drive into a contested midranger by Allisha Gray or a deep, late-clock 3-pointer from Howard.

While the return of Howard and eventual return of Canada will raise the Dream’s offensive floor, it’s misguided to assume that the pair will relieve Atlanta’s ills. Last season, the Dream’s offensive efficiency sunk over the second half of the season; the problems have persisted. Instead of injecting more motion, movement or creativity, the only new wrinkle has been dumping the ball to Charles and letting her go to work. And although the third all-time leading scorer in WNBA history can still get buckets, her scoring rarely facilitates a dynamic, team-wide offensive attack.

The Dream need difference-making defense

Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Defensively, the Dream have done a better job of surviving without two of their star starters; their 101.1 defensive rating puts them in the middle of the pack.

However, the team has missed the defensive playmaking punch that Howard and Canada can provide. Before her injury, Howard had ramped up her intensity on that end of the floor, averaging a career-high 2.2 steals per game, which is the second-best mark in the league. Last season, Canada led the league in steals with 2.3 per game. During her short time wearing a Dream jersey, she averaged 1.3 per contest. The ability of Howard and Canada to turn opponents over could juice Atlanta’s transition offense, a priority for the team that, without the injured pair, they only intermittently have achieved. The Dream induce opponents into an average of 13.2 turnovers per game, which ranks 10th in the league. They’ve then been ineffective in converting turnovers into points, as they are second-to-last in points off turnovers per game with 13.7.

Atlanta’s struggle to turn defense into offense is illustrative of how just about everything that leads to winning basketball is difficult for the Dream right now. In short, it’s been a nightmare season.