What we learned from end-of-season presser with Dream GM Dan Padover

For the second straight season, the Dream added to the franchise record books.

They won another 30 regular-season games and had multiple players earn WNBA honors, including an All-WNBA selection and Defensive Player of the Year. And, of course, they pushed the franchise’s first appearance in the WNBA Finals in over a decade to seven games.

The players and coach Karl Smesko have acknowledged the devastation they’ve felt after their Game 7 loss to the Valkyries.

Though it wasn’t the result the Dream wanted, they took a step in a direction general manager Dan Padover is proud of.

“We went down to the very last two minutes of the last game of the last date of the season, and the toughness, the mental fortitude, the togetherness that all of our players and coaching staff and staff had, that’s the reason we took the strides we did this year,” Padover said during his end-of-season media availability.

“And everybody had one common goal in mind, and that was to take the Dream to the next step and to do it together, and that’s why we had the season that we did.”

The Dream improved on their last two postseason performances, where they exited in the first round. They went undefeated in the first two rounds of the playoffs and suffered their first loss in over a month in Game 1 of the Finals.

So, in the immediate aftermath of their Finals loss, Padover and Smesko did some evaluating. Now, a week later, Padover and Smesko will regroup and begin the process of building the team for next season.

The Dream have nine players under contract through 2027. Forward Angel Reese and guard Jordin Canada are set to enter restricted and unrestricted free agency, respectively, in 2028. But both have said they want to remain in Atlanta.

Reese, after winning Defensive Player of the Year and earning All-WNBA honors, is now eligible for a max extension under the new CBA rules.

The WNBA won’t announce the 2027 salary cap until February.

“Fortunately, we had some long-term planning and what our future cap would look like,” Padover said. “So we feel really good about where we’re at, just from a strategy standpoint.

“Obviously, it’s fortunate to be in a situation where Angel is eligible for that extension because it means what a great year she had, and we couldn’t be more pleased with Angel and just really looking forward to next year.”

So, Padover and his front office staff will look to strike a balance of improving the roster while valuing the continuity of the lineups they have.

“That’s what this job is: taking a look at overall where you’re at, where the rest of the league is at, where the rest of the league is going, and making sure that you can set yourselves up to be right back to where we were, which is the chance to win the WNBA Finals, and that’s what you want to do: put yourselves in a spot to compete for the Finals,” Padover said.

As the Dream evaluate where and how they will make roster improvements, their trip to the WNBA Finals has only whetted their appetite to complete the job.

“I think when you get that close, it makes you want it even more,” Padover said. “And I think that everybody — from our players, our coaches, myself, this organization — to see the city rally behind you like that, and to get that close, I think all that does is just provide more fuel to want to become champions and celebrate the way that so many people want to.”