On Thursday, Rhyne Howard proved why she was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft when she was named the 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year, receiving 53 out of the 56 votes available. She is the second Dream player to nab the award since another former top-overall pick, Angel McCoughtry, was presented the award over a decade ago.
After the 2018 season, which saw the Dream finish with the best record (23-11) in the Eastern Conference but bow out in the Conference Semifinals to the eventual champion Washington Mystics, the Dream have struggled over the past couple of seasons due to injuries and disciplinary issues with several players. With a combined record of 23-65 since the 2018 season, the Dream have been in a rebuilding mode with heavy turnover in the front office and at the coaching positon.
Looking to acquire a face of the franchise, the team traded the 3rd and 14th overall picks to Washington days before the draft in exchange for the No. 1 pick and selected the 6’2” athletic wing out of the University of Kentucky where Rhyne was a two-time SEC Player of the Year (2020, 2021) and two-time First-team All-American. Howard averaged 20.1 points and 6.9 rebounds over her career in Lexington and seemed to be a lock to be the first player taken off of the board.
Some experts questioned whether she had the passion or the motor to excel in clutch situations but all she did this season was proving the critics wrong and immediately excelled at the pro level. While starting 34 games this season, Howard averaged 16.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals in 31.3 minutes, leading all rookies in points, assists, steals and minutes per game. She also set the WNBA rookie record for 3-pointers made with 85, good enough for third-best in the entire league.
In addition to winning EVERY Rookie of the Month award from May to August and being named to the WNBA All-Rookie team, Howard set franchise rookie records for total points (552) and rebounds (154) for a Dream squad that just missed out on the playoffs this year. She was also selected as a reserve for the WNBA All-Star game, dropping 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal in just 15 minutes.