Architect of the Dream’s rise: Dan Padover wins WNBA Executive of the Year
Dan Padover sensed something brewing. The Dream were on the verge of a new era heading into the 2025 WNBA season. He felt it. The players felt it, too.
But the Dream general manager also knew real progress wouldn’t come overnight. Even with a shift at the top — Padover hiring first-year coach Karl Smesko — and the splash of free-agency signings that brought Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to join the Dream’s core, Padover tempered the excitement with patience.
“We don’t have our sights set on a specific goal other than getting better every day, making sure that our players and coaches buy into one another,” he said in January, a couple of weeks before the start of WNBA free agency.
The Dream did more than get better. They broke through, doubling their win total from 2024, finishing 30-14 to match the league’s second-best record (tied with the Las Vegas Aces). The Dream earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, notched their third consecutive postseason appearance and posted a franchise-record 30 victories. For the first time since 2018, they hosted a playoff series. And for the first time ever, it happened at Gateway Center Arena. It was the kind of turnaround that doesn’t just lift a team, it cements the architect.
Padover’s blueprint of piecing together the Dream’s roster that turned potential into results worked. The Dream’s resurgence didn’t go unnoticed, as Padover earned this year’s WNBA Executive of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.
“None of this is possible without the support and leadership of our owners, Larry and Robyn Gottesdiener, Suzanne Abair, and Renee Montgomery,” Padover said in a news release from the team. “They’ve entrusted me to help shape the future of the Dream, and I’m grateful for their vision and partnership.”
For Padover, it marked familiar territory. He claimed the honor in 2020 and 2021 while building the Las Vegas Aces into a powerhouse. Now, with his third win, he stands alone as the only three-time recipient since the award was created in 2017. The Minnesota Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve is the only other executive with multiple trophies, winning in 2019 and 2024.
Padover drew 12 votes — eight of them first-place — from a panel of league general managers, including from the Toronto Tempo, who will join the league when it debuts as an expansion team in 2026. Golden State Valkyries executive Ohemaa Nyanin finished second with 10 votes, followed by Phoenix Mercury’s Nick U’Ren with nine. Washington Mystics’ Jamila Wideman received three.
In four seasons as the Dream’s general manager, Padover’s fingerprints have resulted in a plethora of accolades for the franchise. Smesko registered the most wins ever by a WNBA coach in an inaugural season, eclipsing the 28 that Michael Cooper notched with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008. By the end of the regular season, the Dream improved from 12th to second in offensive rating (105.9), sixth to second in defensive rating (96.3) while finishing fifth in points per game (84.4), third in points allowed per contest (76.8) and third in total 3-pointers made (421), third in total offensive rebounds (390) and first in total defensive (1,219) and total rebounds (1,609).
Padover’s decision to take a chance on Smekso — whose coaching identity centers around floor spacing, ball movement and efficiency — stemmed from the ex-Florida Gulf Coast architect having an “innovative basketball mind” and one who was a “culture builder.”
“The most impressive thing about Karl is just his ability to teach the game of basketball,” Padover said after the Dream’s first two exhibition games in May. “... He knows the right way to play. He knows the individual concepts that help players get better, that help teams get better.”
Even though the Dream’s postseason ended early, with a first-round, best-of-three series loss to the Indiana Fever, Padover has praised Smesko’s growth and the team’s progress under his leadership.
“I can’t remember a jump like that in recent history when a new coach comes in. … To get a team to be a … top-four team in this league is so hard,” Padover said late last month. “It takes some franchises a decade to try to get there and some still can’t get there. … It’s unbelievable.”
Dream guard Allisha Gray continued to shine this season, finishing among the league’s top five in MVP voting. She earned her third All-Star nod — and her first as a starter — while averaging a career-high 18.4 points per game. Gray also claimed Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors three times, in May, June, and August.
Rhyne Howard, another three-time All-Star, led the league with 3.1 made 3-pointers per game and became the first WNBA player to record multiple games with nine made threes in her career. The team’s dominance on the offensive boards was largely powered by Jones, who led the league with 136 total offensive rebounds and ranked second in offensive rebounds per game (3.1), earning her fourth All-Star honor.
Forward Naz Hillmon, one of the Dream’s 2022 draft picks overseen by Padover, captured Sixth Player of the Year honors while posting career highs in points (8.6), rebounds (6.2), and assists (2.4). Rookie point guard Te-Hina Paopao also made her mark, finishing fifth among 2025 draft rookies in assists (2.4 per game) and ranking 22nd in the league in three-point percentage at 38.6%.
With the season now behind them, Padover and Smesko are already turning their attention to the offseason, strategizing to elevate the Dream to even greater heights with the ultimate goal of a WNBA championship in 2026.
“I think we have a group of players right now that are starting to see what’s possible when they’re all on the same page, when they’re playing good basketball,” Padover previously said. “It’s creating some belief and confidence in how good we can be. I think the word previously described about this team might have been potential, whereas now it’s more reality.”
