2019 Atlanta Dream season

The 2019 WNBA season was the 12th season for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association. The team began its season on May 24, 2019, against the Dallas Wings and concluded the season on September 8 against the New York Liberty.^[1]

2019 Atlanta Dream season
Coach	Nicki Collen
Arena	State Farm Arena
Attendance	4,270 per game
Results
Record	8–26 (.235)
Place	6th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Tiffany Hayes – 14.7
Rebounds	Jessica Breland – 7.3
Assists	Alex Bentley – 3.0
Media
Television	WSB-TV
← 2018 season 2020 season →

On December 13, 2018, the Atlanta Dream announced that they would return to State Farm Arena, formerly Philips Arena, after playing the previous two seasons at Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion while State Farm Arena underwent a $192.5 million renovation.^[2]

The Dream endured a season without star Angel McCoughtry, who missed time with a knee ligament injury sustained in 2018. The Dream started slowly only winning 2 games of their first ten. Early July brought some hope to the team, with the Dream winning three of four games between July 5 and July 12. However, the streak would not continue as the Dream lost twelve games in a row from July 14 to August 20. The Dream won three of their last 7 games to finish with an 8–26 record, last in the WNBA. It was the Dream's second worst season in franchise history. For the first time in franchise history, the Dream did not have a player selected to the All-Star Game.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2019 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
1	11	Brianna Turner	United States	Notre Dame
2	23	Maite Cazorla	Spain	Oregon
3	35	Li Yueru	China	Guangdong Vermilion Birds (China)

Trades and Roster Changes

Date	Transaction
January 1, 2019	Exercised 4th-Year Team Option on Brittney Sykes
	Extended a Qualifying Offer to Damiris Dantas
January 2, 2019	Extended a Qualifying Offer to Blake Dietrick
February 2, 2019	Signed Blake Dietrick to a training-camp contract[3]
February 6, 2019	Signed Haley Peters to a training-camp contract[4]
February 11, 2019	Signed Lynetta Kizer to a training-camp contract[5][6]
March 15, 2019	Signed Mengran Sun to a training-camp contract[7]
April 10, 2019	Traded F Brianna Turner to the Phoenix Mercury for Marie Gülich[8]
April 11, 2019	Traded a 2nd round pick in the 2020 WNBA draft to the New York Liberty in exchange for Nia Coffey from the Las Vegas Aces - as part of a 3-Team Trade[9]
April 14, 2019	Signed Maite Cazorla to a rookie-scale contract
April 17, 2019	Signed Meme Jackson to training-camp contract[10]
May 16, 2019	Waived Meme Jackson[11]
	Traded Imani McGee-Stafford to Dallas Wings for a 3rd round pick in the 2020 WNBA draft[12]
May 21, 2019	Waived Lynetta Kizer[13]
May 23, 2019	Waived Blake Dietrick[14]
	Full Season Suspension of Mengran Sun
June 16, 2019	Temporarily Suspend Alex Bentley due to Overseas Commitments
June 19, 2019	Signed Natisha Hiedeman[15]
July 1, 2019	Activated Alex Bentley from her Temporary Suspension
	Waived Natisha Hiedeman
July 17, 2019	Waived Haley Peters[16]
July 18, 2019	Signed Alaina Coates[17]

Roster

2019 Atlanta Dream roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 20 Bentley, Alex 5' 7" (1.7m) 152 lb (69kg) 1990-10-27 Penn State 6 F 25 Billings, Monique 6' 4" (1.93m) 185 lb (84kg) 1996-05-02 UCLA 1 F 51 Breland, Jessica 6' 2" (1.88m) 166 lb (75kg) 1988-02-23 North Carolina 7 G 5 Cazorla, Maite 5' 10" (1.78m) 155 lb (70kg) 1997-06-18 Oregon R C 81 Coates, Alaina 6' 4" (1.93m) 225 lb (102kg) 1995-04-07 South Carolina 1 F 10 Coffey, Nia 5' 10" (1.78m) 182 lb (83kg) 1993-06-11 Northwestern 2 C 24 Gülich, Marie 6' 5" (1.96m) 205 lb (93kg) 1994-05-28 Oregon State 1 G 15 Hayes, Tiffany 5' 10" (1.78m) 155 lb (70kg) 1989-09-20 Connecticut 7 G/F 35 McCoughtry, Angel  6' 1" (1.85m) 173 lb (78kg) 1986-07-10 Louisville 9 G 21 Montgomery, Renee 5' 7" (1.7m) 140 lb (64kg) 1986-12-02 Connecticut 10 G 7 Sykes, Brittney 5' 9" (1.75m) 154 lb (70kg) 1994-02-07 Syracuse 2 F/C 1 Williams, Elizabeth 6' 3" (1.91m) 200 lb (91kg) 1993-06-23 Duke 4	Head coach Nicki Collen (Marquette) Assistant coaches Mike Peterson (Bushnell) Darius Taylor (Michigan) Athletic trainer Jessica Cohen (Vanderbilt) Strength and conditioning coach Ashley Alexander (New Orleans) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Elizabeth Williams	Marie Gülich Alaina Coates
PF	Jessica Breland	Monique Billings
SF	Brittney Sykes	Nia Coffey Angel McCoughtry
SG	Tiffany Hayes	Alex Bentley
PG	Renee Montgomery	Maite Cazorla

Schedule

Preseason

2019 Preseason Schedule
Total: 2–1 (Home: 0–1; Road: 2–0) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 13 vs. Dallas W 82–59 Bentley (15) Gülich (6) Tied (5) Mohegan Sun Arena 3,300 1–0 2 May 14 vs. New York W 87–92 Coffey (18) McGee-Stafford (6) Tied (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 3,458 2–0 3 May 17 Washington L 64–75 Hayes (17) Billings (6) Montgomery (4) Albany Civic Center N/A 2–1
2019 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2016 Regular Season Total: 8–26 (Home: 5–12; Road: 3–14)
May: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–0) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 24 Dallas W 76–72 Breland (17) Tied (6) Sykes (4) State Farm Arena 3,070 1–0 2 May 31 Seattle L 66–82 Sykes (12) 3 tied (8) Bentley (4) State Farm Arena 2,119 1–1
June: 1–7 (Home: 1–4; Road: 0–3) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 3 June 1 @ Washington L 75–96 Tied (11) Breland (7) Bentley (4) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 4,200 1–2 4 June 6 Las Vegas L 69–92 Sykes (15) Breland (9) Montgomery (5) State Farm Arena 2,630 1–3 5 June 9 Connecticut L 59–65 Tied (14) Billings (10) Tied (3) State Farm Arena 3,082 1–4 6 June 15 @ Dallas L 61–71 Williams (16) Williams (8) Hayes (3) College Park Center 5,220 1–5 7 June 19 Indiana W 88–78 Hayes (28) Billings (8) Montgomery (9) State Farm Arena 6,474 2–5 8 June 21 @ Connecticut L 76–86 Sykes (18) Breland (8) Hayes (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,608 2–6 9 June 23 Washington L 73–89 Hayes (18) Billings (14) Cazorla (6) State Farm Arena 4,136 2–7 10 June 30 New York L 58–74 Sykes (18) Williams (8) Tied (4) State Farm Arena 4,359 2–8
July: 3–8 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–6) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 11 July 2 @ Minnesota L 68–85 Williams (14) Breland (5) Bentley (5) Target Center 8,208 2–9 12 July 5 @ Seattle W 77–66 Hayes (21) Williams (9) Tied (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,111 3–9 13 July 7 @ Phoenix L 63–65 Sykes (29) Sykes (10) 3 tied (3) Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,850 3–10 14 July 10 Connecticut W 78–75 Hayes (18) Breland (13) Tied (4) State Farm Arena 3,866 4–10 15 July 12 Minnesota W 60–53 Williams (17) Breland (9) Hayes (4) State Farm Arena 4,001 5–10 16 July 14 Los Angeles L 71–76 (OT) Hayes (24) Billings (16) Hayes (4) State Farm Arena 5,083 5–11 17 July 17 @ Chicago L 76–77 Montgomery (23) Breland (11) Tied (6) Wintrust Arena 10,143 5–12 18 July 19 @ Connecticut L 69–98 Sykes (26) Coffey (7) Sykes (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,733 5–13 19 July 21 @ Washington L 65–93 Williams (14) Gülich (8) Cazorla (4) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 4,200 5–14 20 July 23 Los Angeles L 66–78 Billings (16) Tied (8) Bentley (5) State Farm Arena 7,047 5–15 21 July 31 @ Indiana L 59–61 Williams (17) Billings (12) Breland (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,702 5–16
August: 2–7 (Home: 0–4; Road: 2–3) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 22 August 3 Chicago L 75–87 Bentley (21) Breland (7) Hayes (4) State Farm Arena 5,427 5–17 23 August 6 Minnesota L 69–85 Montgomery (19) Sykes (8) Tied (3) State Farm Arena 3,395 5–18 24 August 10 @ Indiana L 82–87 Hayes (34) Sykes (9) Sykes (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,923 5–19 25 August 13 @ Las Vegas L 90–94 Breland (18) Gülich (12) Bentley (7) Mandalay Bay Events Center 3,532 5–20 26 August 16 @ Phoenix L 68–77 Montgomery (17) Williams (11) Williams (4) Talking Stick Resort Arena 8,480 5–21 27 August 20 Chicago L 83–87 Hayes (27) Billings (9) Bentley (5) State Farm Arena 4,662 5–22 28 August 23 @ New York W 90–87 Hayes (19) Breland (12) Sykes (6) Westchester County Center 1,831 6–22 29 August 25 @ Dallas W 77–73 Hayes (23) Breland (12) Bentley (4) College Park Center 4,715 7–22 30 August 29 Phoenix L 58–65 Montgomery (20) Breland (11) 3 tied (3) State Farm Arena 3,727 7–23
September: 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–2) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 31 September 1 @ Seattle L 75–92 Tied (15) Williams (6) Bentley (5) Alaska Airlines Arena 9,000 7–24 32 September 3 @ Los Angeles L 60–70 Tied (15) Billings (10) Montgomery (4) Staples Center 9,889 7–25 33 September 5 Las Vegas W 78–74 Williams (20) Billings (14) Bentley (8) State Farm Arena 4,023 8–25 34 September 8 New York L 63–71 Bentley (17) Breland (12) Breland (4) State Farm Arena 5,495 8–26
2019 season schedule

Standings

#	Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Washington Mystics (1)	26	8	.765	–	14–3	12–5	13–3
2	Connecticut Sun (2)	23	11	.676	3	15–2	8–9	11–5
3	Chicago Sky (5)	20	14	.588	6	12–5	8–9	11–5
4	e –Indiana Fever	13	21	.382	13	7–10	6–11	7–9
5	e –New York Liberty	10	24	.294	16	4–13	6–11	3–13
6	e –Atlanta Dream	8	26	.235	18	5–12	3–14	3–13

Notes

(#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name

e – Eliminated from playoffs

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
Tiffany Hayes	29	29	28.2	39.3	30.8	76.4	3.0	2.8	1.0	0.3	14.7
Brittney Sykes	34	27	25.9	36.5	25.9	70.3	4.4	2.5	0.6	0.5	10.2
Renee Montgomery	34	34	27.9	37.0	32.4	82.4	2.2	2.6	0.9	0.5	9.5
Elizabeth Williams	32	32	28.4	45.5	0.0	73.2	6.5	1.2	0.8	1.7	9.3
Alex Bentley	29	4	21.9	30.7	23.5	85.7	1.9	3.0	0.7	0.3	9.0
Jessica Breland	33	33	23.2	37.8	23.7	87.9	7.3	1.7	1.3	1.1	7.5
Monique Billings	29	2	19.1	38.9	100	78.3	6.9	0.6	0.6	0.4	5.5
Nia Coffey	28	6	13.9	33.8	37.9	54.8	2.8	0.4	0.5	0.5	5.0
Marie Gülich	31	1	11.3	36.1	32.0	72.7	2.7	0.6	0.2	0.8	3.3
Maite Cazorla	31	1	15.4	31.2	23.6	87.5	0.7	1.6	0.6	0	3.0
Alaina Coates	9	0	8.3	64.3	0	53.8	3.0	0.1	0.2	0.7	2.8
Angel McCoughtry	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0