Dream’s Rhyne Howard named WNBA’s Rookie of the Month

Dream guard Rhyne Howard was named the Rookie of the Month for May, the WNBA announced Wednesday. Howard averaged a team-high 16.9 points in her first month as a professional and led all rookies with 1.5 steals per game.

Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft, is the league’s 10th-leading scorer overall and the highest-scoring rookie this season. She eclipsed 100 points in only five games. She reached 135 points after last week’s game against Phoenix, the sixth most of any rookie in league history in that time span and the most of any Dream rookie in franchise history.

Howard is the Dream’s first WNBA Player of the Month since Brittney Sykes won in July and August of 2017. She was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week on May 16, making her the first rookie in league history to win the award in the first week of their WNBA career since Tamika Catchings in 2002, and the first Dream rookie to ever earn a WNBA Player of the Week award. In her debut week, Howard averaged 20.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists.