Defensive Disruptors: Rhyne Howard Doesn't Wait for the Game to Come to Her
Courtside With Asia | Defensive Disruptors
How Are We Still Having This Conversation?
I've been thinking about Rhyne Howard a lot lately, and I keep coming back to one question. How are we still not talking about her enough?
Not because people don't know who she is. We're talking about a former No. 1 overall pick, a Rookie of the Year, a multiple-time All-Star and one of the most talented perimeter players in the WNBA. Howard has been recognized throughout her career, and her résumé speaks for itself. But knowing someone's accomplishments and appreciating everything they bring to the game aren't always the same thing.
When conversations turn to the players who can genuinely change a basketball game on both ends of the floor, I sometimes feel like Rhyne's name gets lost somewhere between the more familiar answers. I don't think it should. How many players can make you worry about the three-point line on one possession and the passing lane on the next? How many can put up 40 points when the offense needs them, then spend another night making an impact through steals, defensive pressure and the decisions they force opponents to make?
The scorer has never been difficult to recognize. She's been showing us that part of her game since Kentucky. But the length, the anticipation, the defensive instincts and the willingness to contribute when her shot isn't falling deserve just as much attention.
This isn't about convincing anyone that Rhyne Howard is talented. We already know that. It's about appreciating everything that talent looks like, even when it doesn't come with a 40-point performance. I want to give her her flowers because she's earned them, not just for what she's done this season, but for the basketball player she's been building toward becoming for years.
She Was Special Long Before Atlanta
Before Rhyne Howard was the first overall pick in the WNBA Draft, she was already doing things at Kentucky that made it difficult to imagine the program without her.
She arrived in Lexington in 2018 and immediately established herself as someone who could contribute in nearly every part of the game. She could score from outside, attack off the dribble, rebound, create for teammates and make her presence felt defensively. As her college career progressed, the responsibilities kept growing.
By the time her college career ended, Howard had scored 2,290 points, the second-most in Kentucky women's basketball history at the time. She was a two-time SEC Player of the Year, a three-time Associated Press First Team All-American and one of the most accomplished players the program had ever produced.
But here's something about her Kentucky career that I find especially interesting. Her impact wasn't limited to the scoring column.
According to Kentucky's records, Howard led the Wildcats in scoring 73 times and rebounding 60 times throughout her career. She also led the team in assists 40 times, steals 50 times and blocks 45 times. We're talking about a player who was widely recognized as one of the country's best scorers, yet she was regularly the person her team relied on to do just about everything else, too.
That versatility didn't begin when she became a professional. It was part of the reason she became such an exceptional college player in the first place.
In 2022, Howard helped lead Kentucky through a remarkable SEC Tournament run that ended with an upset of top-ranked South Carolina in the championship game. She was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, adding a championship to an already impressive individual résumé.
I love that this became part of her college legacy because it wasn't simply another award. It was a championship moment, one that gave Kentucky something tangible to celebrate after years of Howard carrying enormous expectations.
When Atlanta selected her with the first overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, it wasn't taking a chance on a player who might eventually develop into someone important. The Dream were bringing in someone who had already spent four years learning what it meant to be the player everyone prepared for.
Of course, the WNBA is a different challenge. The defenders are stronger, the rotations are quicker and the margin for mistakes becomes much smaller. But Rhyne didn't arrive looking overwhelmed by the responsibility. She arrived ready to contribute.
There's a nickname associated with Howard that I find especially fitting when I think about the career she's built: The Permission.
From Kentucky to Atlanta, she's shown that she can be a scorer, a creator, a defender and whatever else the moment requires. She didn't arrive in the WNBA needing someone to tell her she belonged. Her basketball had already made that clear.
She became the 2022 Rookie of the Year and earned an All-Star selection in her first season. For a franchise trying to establish a new direction, that mattered. Atlanta had a young player it could build around, and she was already demonstrating that the expectations attached to her draft position weren't going to define the limits of her game.
Her second season offered even more evidence. In 2023, Howard scored a career-high 43 points against Los Angeles. She also delivered 36 points in her playoff debut, a performance that showed how comfortable she could be carrying a significant offensive workload even when the stakes were higher.
Those games were reminders of what had made her such an exciting prospect, but I think they also contributed to the way people sometimes talk about her. When a player is capable of scoring like that, it's easy for everything else to become secondary. The shooting becomes the headline, the difficult shots become the moments people remember, and the rest of the work can start to disappear behind them.
Her career has also taken her beyond the WNBA. In 2024, Howard represented the United States in 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics, helping the team earn a bronze medal. That's another accomplishment I don't want to rush past.
Three-on-three basketball asks players to operate differently. There's less space, fewer teammates to cover for a mistake and very little time to recover before the next possession begins. Players have to make decisions quickly and contribute in multiple ways. For someone with Howard's combination of size, shooting and versatility, it was another opportunity to apply her skills in a different environment.
There's the Kentucky star who helped lead her program to an SEC championship, the No. 1 pick who immediately became one of Atlanta's most important players, and the Olympian who represented her country. Through all of those experiences, there's been a player whose contributions have never fit neatly into one category.
That's why I don't think we can fully appreciate Rhyne Howard without talking about her defense. Not as something separate from the scorer we've known for years, but as another part of what makes her so difficult to play against.
The Defense Was Never an Afterthought
Howard was already showing defensive versatility at Kentucky, and she's continued developing that part of her game throughout her professional career. Her 2025 season made it especially difficult to overlook.
Howard earned a place on the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team, becoming Atlanta's first All-Defensive selection since 2020. She led the Dream in steals, ranked third on the team in blocks and finished among the league's top ten players in steals per game. Atlanta finished second in defensive rating, and Howard was an important part of that collective effort.
One performance from that season captures just how unusual her combination of skills can be. On August 29, Howard recorded six blocks while also making six three-pointers, becoming the first player in WNBA history to accomplish both in the same game.
Six blocks. Six made threes. In one game.
There's something almost ridiculous about that combination, and I mean that in the best possible way. One statistic speaks to her ability to challenge and deny scoring opportunities. The other speaks to her ability to stretch an opponent's defense from well beyond the basket. And she was doing both in the same performance.
Howard doesn't have to be the tallest player on the floor to affect a shot. Her length and timing allow her to challenge attempts, while her mobility gives her opportunities to recover and contest when an offensive player believes there's an opening.
On the perimeter, that combination becomes particularly interesting. A defender doesn't necessarily need to steal the ball to make an offensive possession more difficult. Sometimes simply being positioned well enough to challenge a pass or discourage an attack can force the offense to reconsider what it wants to do.
That's something worth looking for when watching Howard. How does an opponent respond to her positioning? Does a ball handler have to adjust the angle of a pass? Does an offensive player hesitate before attacking a space Howard can potentially recover into? Those decisions matter, even when they don't become statistics.
The six-block performance gives us an example of her shot-disrupting ability, but it also raises a larger question about how we evaluate defense. Steals and blocks tell us something, but neither fully explains how a defender can change the choices available to an opponent.
Howard's defensive value isn't limited to what appears beside her name in a box score. Her 2025 recognition didn't create that ability. It acknowledged something she'd been developing for years, and in 2026, she gave us even more reasons to pay attention.
There Isn't Just One Way for Rhyne Howard to Beat You
Let's talk about what Rhyne Howard actually did this season.
She averaged 17.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals across 43 regular-season games. She also made 3.1 three-pointers per game, connecting on 134 from beyond the arc.
Those are impressive numbers individually, but together, they tell a much more interesting story. Howard wasn't simply contributing on both ends of the floor. She was carrying a significant offensive responsibility while continuing to produce defensively.
She finished the regular season with 99 steals and 39 blocks, numbers that reflect how frequently she was involved in disrupting opposing possessions. Nearly 100 steals from a player who was also responsible for so much of Atlanta's perimeter offense.
I think that's worth appreciating.
The energy required to defend, recover, contest and pursue passing lanes is still being spent by someone Atlanta depends on to create scoring opportunities. Being asked to create shots, space the floor, handle defensive attention and remain active on the other end is a significant responsibility, and Howard has been balancing those demands throughout her career.
Her shooting forces defenders to respect her away from the basket. That attention creates space for teammates and changes how opponents can help defensively. Her ability to make difficult shots means Atlanta doesn't always need a perfect offensive possession to create a scoring opportunity.
On the other end, her defensive activity can help the Dream regain possession and attack before an opponent has fully organized. A steal can become an offensive opportunity, while a contested shot can lead to a rebound and a chance to push the pace. Even when a possession doesn't produce a highlight, Howard can still influence what happens next.
That's why I don't think her game should be separated into an offensive résumé and a defensive one. Both are important to understanding what she gives Atlanta, especially as the team around her has evolved.
A Different Atlanta, but Rhyne Is Still Rhyne
One of the most interesting parts of Howard's career has been watching Atlanta change around her.
She entered the league as a foundational young player on a team trying to establish its direction. Since then, the Dream have added talent, adjusted their roster and developed into a much more complete group.
Allisha Gray has become an essential part of Atlanta's offense. Jordin Canada brings another level of playmaking and defensive pressure. Angel Reese provides rebounding, physicality and interior activity. Naz Hillmon has continued developing into a valuable contributor. Together, they've helped create a team that doesn't need every possession to depend on one person.
For Howard, that means her value can show up in different ways. There are still nights when Atlanta needs her to score, particularly when the offense needs someone capable of making a difficult shot. But there are also possessions when the best thing she can do is move the ball, occupy a defender, contest a shot or disrupt an action before it develops.
That isn't a smaller role. It's a more complete one.
I think that's something we sometimes miss when evaluating players who entered the league with enormous scoring expectations. We can become so attached to the idea of what a star is supposed to look like that we overlook the value of everything else she contributes.
There's a level of adjustment that comes with playing alongside more established talent. It requires understanding when to create for yourself, when to trust a teammate and when your contribution to a possession might have nothing to do with taking the shot.
Howard's ability to remain an important part of Atlanta while the roster continues evolving is another piece of her development worth recognizing. She's still the scorer who can take over a game and the perimeter threat who can change how an opponent defends. But she's also part of a team whose success depends on everyone understanding how their contributions fit together.
The Postseason Is Giving Us Another Look
Atlanta's postseason has made that especially relevant. The Dream swept Washington in the opening round to reach the semifinals, a meaningful step for Howard after earlier postseason appearances ended in the first round. In the opening game against the Mystics, Howard scored 26 points, helping Atlanta begin its postseason with a victory.
Against New York, we saw something even more significant.
Atlanta opened the semifinals with a 92–82 victory before surviving a 101–98 overtime battle in Game 2. Howard didn't have her most efficient shooting performances in those games, going 5-for-20 in each contest and scoring 16 and 18 points. But her contributions extended beyond scoring. In Game 1, she added eight rebounds and eight assists. In Game 2, she contributed seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Those weren't perfect performances, and I don't think we need to pretend they were to appreciate her. Even when her shot wasn't falling the way she'd like, her rebounding, playmaking and defensive activity gave Atlanta other ways to benefit from her presence on the floor.
And then came Game 3.
With a trip to the WNBA Finals on the line, Howard scored 21 points, knocked down four three-pointers and added two rebounds, one steal and one block as Atlanta defeated New York 85–83 to complete the sweep. She scored 11 of those points in the opening quarter, helping Atlanta establish an early lead. New York fought back and entered the fourth quarter ahead, but the Dream held the Liberty to 15 points in the final period to secure the victory.
And just like that, the Atlanta Dream were headed back to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013.
Think about what that means for Howard. She arrived in Atlanta in 2022 as the No. 1 overall pick, joining a franchise that was trying to build something meaningful. Since then, she's grown from a promising rookie into an established star, developing her game while the roster around her changed. Now, she's part of the group that has brought the Dream back to the championship stage after 13 years.
Her Game 3 performance included the perimeter scoring Atlanta needed and the defensive contributions that have become such an important part of her game. It wasn't just about the 21 points. It was about what those points, those four three-pointers and those defensive contributions helped accomplish.
For a player who has spent years carrying expectations and helping shape this franchise's direction, that's a milestone worth celebrating. She's no longer simply the young star Atlanta hopes will eventually lead it somewhere meaningful. She's helping the Dream compete for a championship right now.
Her postseason hasn't been about how many points she scores or whether every shot falls. It's also been about the responsibilities she's carrying, the adjustments she's making and the ways she can influence a game when one part of her performance isn't going as planned.
That's the kind of growth that deserves attention, too.
Give Rhyne Howard Her Flowers
I started writing this because I wanted to give Rhyne Howard her flowers.
Not because she hasn't received recognition. She has. She's been an All-American, a No. 1 draft pick, a Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, an Olympian and an All-Defensive selection. Those accomplishments matter, but I think there's something worth saying about how we appreciate players once they've established themselves.
Sometimes we get so accustomed to someone's talent that we stop treating it as something remarkable. We know Rhyne can shoot. We know she can score. We know she's capable of taking over a game. And because we've known those things for years, it's easy to move on to the next conversation without spending much time appreciating what she's continued to build.
But the player she is today deserves that attention, too.
I want us to talk about the defender who can make an opponent uncomfortable before the ball even reaches their hands. The player who can challenge shots, disrupt passing lanes and turn defensive activity into opportunities for her team. I want us to appreciate the growth that comes with learning how to contribute on a roster full of talented players, where being important doesn't always mean being the person who takes the most shots.
Her 2026 season gives us plenty to celebrate, especially with the defensive production she's put together. And now, with Atlanta returning to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013, there's another chapter of her career worth appreciating.
When I think about that nickname, The Permission, I keep coming back to something else. Rhyne Howard doesn't need permission to be considered one of the game's most complete players. She doesn't need anyone to decide that her contributions are finally worthy of appreciation. She's already done the work.
Rhyne Howard doesn't need another 40-point game for us to recognize her scoring ability. She doesn't need another record-breaking defensive season for us to appreciate what she contributes on that end of the floor.
She's spent years giving us reasons to pay attention. And when we're discussing the players who can change a basketball game in more ways than one, her name shouldn't arrive as an afterthought.
Rhyne Howard deserves her flowers. All of them.
Enjoyed this story? Support independent basketball journalism and help Courtside With Asia keep telling the stories that deserve more attention.
Comments