When the Atlanta Dream claimed the franchise’s first-ever WNBA Finals win on Oct. 19, defeating the Golden State Valkyries 79-65 in Game 2 to even the series, Angel McCoughtry watched proudly from her home office in Los Angeles.
McCoughtry’s emotions are always heightened when she watches the Dream, the franchise that drafted her with the No. 1 overall pick in 2009 and with whom she made three Finals appearances. The Dream were swept in each of those Finals series, losing to the Seattle Storm in 2010 and to the Minnesota Lynx in 2011 and 2013.
But this year’s Atlanta team, led by double-double machine Angel Reese, has accomplished what the teams from McCoughtry’s Dream era never could. The Dream have a 2-1 series lead over the Valkyries heading into Saturday’s Game 4 in Atlanta and are two wins away from the franchise’s first WNBA championship.
“I was ecstatic because it's like finally we got past one hump, and now they won two,” McCoughtry told USA TODAY Sports in a phone call on Thursday, Oct. 22. “So, really excited because it was like, man, can we win just a Finals game? ... But now it's looking like, hey, they can finish it off. So I'm truly excited about that. It definitely helps the culture. What this team has done has just been truly amazing. Like, obviously, I played in State Farm Arena, but I’ve never seen it that full.”
A sold-out crowd of more than 17,000 people at State Farm Arena watched the Dream win Game 3 of the Finals on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in what has already been a historic season. The trio of Reese, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard helped Atlanta become one of the league’s best defenses and finish the regular season 30-14, matching the franchise’s best record from 2025.
Angel McCoughtry sees 'history repeat itself' in Angel Reese
Like McCoughtry, Reese is from Baltimore and played high school basketball for coach Jerome Shelton at Saint Frances Academy. McCoughtry said she’s admired Reese for years and even tried to convince her to play college basketball at Louisville, McCoughtry’s alma mater. Reese instead ended up playing two years at Maryland and two years at LSU, where she won an NCAA championship and cemented herself as a first-round WNBA draft pick.
Reese played her first two WNBA seasons in Chicago and was traded to Atlanta in April. In her first season with the Dream, she won WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and became the youngest player in WNBA history to record a double-double in three consecutive Finals games.
“History is gonna repeat itself,” McCoughtry said. “Angel Reese, we share the same name. We come from the same city. We went to the same high school. We have the same high school coach. We both have a teammate named Izzy. I mean, could it get any better than that?”
This Dream season has deviated from history in one important way: Atlanta has already avoided a Finals sweep.
The Dream’s first trip to the Finals in 2010 was in McCoughtry’s second WNBA season, when a young Atlanta team lost to an experienced Seattle team featuring Lauren Jackson, Swin Cash and Sue Bird. The Dream’s next two Finals defeats were at the hands of the Lynx, whose roster included five Olympians — Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen.
The Dream’s previous Finals teams starred McCoughtry, forward Sancho Lyttle and center Erika de Souza, and thrived on pace. McCoughtry said she sees similarities to the 2026 Dream, who led the WNBA in steals and are renowned for their transition scoring and tough defense.
“It's kind of like the identity and spirit has stayed with this team of Atlanta, and it's really kind of almost eerie, in a good way,” McCoughtry said. “The way Angel plays, I don't know if it's a Baltimore thing or what, but it's so cool to see because I play like that, with a lot of emotion. But I knew my emotion was misunderstood, and so I'm so glad that now these girls can play with so much emotion that it's not misunderstood anymore. … You don't have to be ladylike. ‘Oh, ladies supposed to act like this.’ So I'm glad to see the evolution in that because it is entertaining, and that is the way the game should be played.”
Angel McCoughtry still seeking shot at elusive WNBA championship
McCoughtry earned five WNBA All-Star honors and seven all-defensive honors in 10 seasons with the Dream. After sitting out the 2019 season in Atlanta with a torn ACL, she left and signed with the Las Vegas Aces for the 2020 season. With the Aces, McCoughtry made her fourth career Finals appearance, but the Aces were swept by the Storm.
McCoughtry said she never wanted to leave Atlanta, and said she still hopes the Dream will one day pay homage to former players from her era.
“I wanted to be the type of player that stayed for one franchise my whole life,” she said. “That was my dream, and it really hurt me. I didn't really speak on it. It really hurt me to have to go to Vegas because I wanted to finish out. It just wasn't the right fit at the time.”
McCoughtry, who is 40 and last played in the WNBA in 2022, says she is not retired from basketball and hopes to get another shot to play in the WNBA or another professional league. She still thinks often of her Finals appearances.
“What sticks out is that I could have four rings, but I don’t,” McCoughtry said. “I always kind of think about that. But you know, life is gonna life. You win some, you lose some. Hopefully, Atlanta can get their first. That's what I'm excited about.”
McCoughtry still holds several WNBA and Dream playoff records. This season, her single-game playoff scoring record of 42 points (shared with Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier) was broken when Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale scored 45 points against the Valkyries in their first-round series.
“That’s what records are for. They’re meant to be broken,” McCoughtry said. “I’m excited. This is what the evolution of women’s basketball is about, and I'm just glad that I'm a part of what they're doing now.”
McCoughtry said she has tentative plans to attend Game 5 of Dream-Valkyries in San Francisco on Monday, Oct. 26.
Whichever way the series turns out, the WNBA is guaranteed to have a first-time champion. The Valkyries, an expansion franchise, made the Finals in just their second season in existence. The Dream are peaking at the right time and back in the Finals for the first time in 13 years.
“For Golden State, this shows when you put the money into a product, look what happens in two years,” McCoughtry said. “This thing can pay off if you just invest in us and just give us a little love and respect. And for Atlanta, they have a little more depth and history, but maybe it's their turn.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Finally!' Angel McCoughtry ecstatic over Atlanta Dream's first WNBA Finals win