Naz Hillmon Is The Glue. Atlanta Knows It.
From Michigan to Australia, Unrivaled and the WNBA Finals, Naz Hillmon has built a career around versatility, growth and understanding what winning requires. Her Game 3 performance was another reminder of the player Atlanta has depended on all along.
There are players whose impact is easy to recognize because the numbers demand attention. The points, rebounds and assists offer a straightforward explanation of what they contributed. Their influence is visible before anyone has to look much deeper.
Then there are players whose value requires paying attention to everything happening between those numbers.
Naz Hillmon has always been capable of filling a stat sheet. Her career at Michigan made that clear long before she entered the WNBA, and her professional experiences have only reinforced it. But as her career has developed, so has the number of ways she can influence a game.
For the Atlanta Dream, that versatility has become essential.
Hillmon can set the screen that creates an open shot, communicate through a difficult defensive possession, fight for an extra rebound or recognize when a teammate needs the ball in a better position. She's also capable of taking on a larger scoring responsibility when the moment calls for it. Those skills have made her an important part of Atlanta's identity, and they've helped explain why her teammates speak about her with such appreciation.
In Game 3 of the 2026 WNBA Finals, Hillmon finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including three made three-pointers, as Atlanta defeated the Golden State Valkyries 97–71. She finished plus-17, helping the Dream take a 2–1 series lead.
It was her strongest scoring performance of the Finals to that point, and it came on one of the biggest stages of her professional career. But the performance was especially meaningful when viewed alongside everything Hillmon had already accomplished and the role she'd established within the Dream.
Atlanta didn't discover Naz Hillmon in Game 3.
The rest of her career explains why the team had already learned to depend on her.
Michigan Already Knew What Naz Could Do
Before Hillmon became one of Atlanta's most versatile contributors, she was one of the most accomplished players in Michigan women's basketball history.
Her college career was built on consistency, physicality and an ability to control the game around the basket. She wasn't simply someone who could score when opportunities came her way. She was a player Michigan could build an offense around, and her production reflected that responsibility.
Hillmon became the first player in Michigan basketball history, men's or women's, to record at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 2021 and became the first All-American in the history of Michigan's women's basketball program.
During the 2020–21 season, she averaged nearly 24 points and 11.4 rebounds while shooting better than 62 percent from the field. That January, she scored 50 points against Ohio State, setting a Michigan single-game scoring record. It was the kind of performance that demonstrated just how difficult she could be to contain when an offense ran through her. She knew how to establish position, finish through contact and create second opportunities with her rebounding.
But her Michigan career was bigger than one extraordinary scoring night. She finished as the program's all-time leader in rebounds, with 1,063, and double-doubles, with 52. She earned First-Team All-Big Ten recognition in all four seasons and became a two-time WBCA Coaches' All-American.
Those accomplishments established the foundation of her professional career. Hillmon entered the WNBA having already demonstrated that she could handle significant offensive responsibility, compete physically and produce consistently against high-level competition.
And even before she became a professional, she was gaining experience playing alongside other accomplished athletes.
Winning Was Familiar Before the WNBA
Before she entered the WNBA, Hillmon represented the United States in international competition. She won gold at the 2018 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Women's AmeriCup.
At the 2019 U19 World Cup, she started all seven games and averaged 7.4 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds as the United States completed an undefeated championship run.
Those experiences placed her alongside other talented players whose individual strengths had to fit within a shared system. Hillmon had already experienced what it meant to compete for championships on teams where responsibilities were distributed among several capable contributors.
Her time with USA Basketball also helped establish a relationship that would become particularly meaningful later in her career.
Hillmon and Rhyne Howard played together on the United States U18 team in 2018. Their friendship began before either entered the WNBA, giving them a connection that would eventually carry into their professional careers.
That history adds another dimension to the way their partnership developed in Atlanta. They weren't simply two players drafted by the same franchise. They had already shared the experience of representing their country and competing alongside one another.
Hillmon's college career had shown what she could accomplish as a primary offensive option. International competition gave her additional experience contributing within talented groups.
When she entered the WNBA, both parts of that background would matter.
A Different Role, Not a Smaller Player
When the Atlanta Dream selected Hillmon with the 15th overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, she entered a league where opportunities looked different from the ones she'd experienced at Michigan.
In college, she had been a centerpiece of the offense. Opponents had to account for her whenever she touched the ball, and her scoring and rebounding were central to Michigan's success.
Atlanta was a different environment. Hillmon was joining established professionals and other young players trying to build something together. She wasn't going to have the same number of offensive possessions or the same freedom to operate as the primary scoring option.
Her responsibilities shifted toward rebounding, defensive positioning, screening and movement without the ball. She still had opportunities to score around the basket, but much of her work involved creating opportunities that another player would finish.
As a rookie in 2022, she appeared in 34 games and made 12 starts, averaging 4.4 points and 5.1 rebounds. Over the next two seasons, she continued adjusting to different responsibilities and rotations, appearing in all 40 regular-season games in both 2023 and 2024.
Those early years required patience and adaptability. Hillmon had spent her college career as one of the primary players opponents were preparing to stop. In Atlanta, she was learning how to contribute within an offense built around several different scoring options.
The adjustment didn't erase what she'd accomplished at Michigan. Her rebounding, physicality and understanding of positioning were still valuable, and the professional experience gave her more opportunities to refine those skills.
What stands out about that period is that Hillmon didn't remain limited to the responsibilities she was initially given. As her career progressed, she continued adding to her game.
And some of that development happened far from Atlanta.
Her Game Kept Growing Beyond Atlanta
One of the most important parts of Hillmon's professional career happened thousands of miles from the WNBA.
During the 2023–24 offseason, she played for the Melbourne Boomers in Australia's Women's National Basketball League. Across 24 games, she averaged 15.2 points and 9.1 rebounds while shooting 56.5 percent from the field. She earned All-WNBL Second Team recognition, demonstrating that the scoring and rebounding ability that had defined her college career remained effective when she carried greater offensive responsibility.
It's easy to follow a player's WNBA statistics and assume those numbers tell the entire story of her development. But offseason leagues can place players in different systems, with different teammates and expectations. The responsibilities a player handles overseas may look very different from the ones she has during the WNBA season.
Hillmon returned to the WNBL for the 2024–25 season, this time with the Southside Flyers. Her production grew again. In 19 games, she averaged approximately 19.5 points and 9.9 rebounds, shooting 60 percent from the field. She also made 14 three-pointers and earned All-WNBL First Team honors.
Those seasons add an important dimension to her professional résumé. In Atlanta, Hillmon was developing into a versatile frontcourt contributor. In Australia, she was producing like a primary offensive option, using her strength and rebounding while continuing to expand her scoring opportunities.
The 14 made three-pointers during her Southside season are particularly interesting when considered alongside the changes that followed in Atlanta. They weren't the entire explanation for her improvement as a perimeter shooter, but they were evidence of an offensive game that was continuing to develop.
Her time in Australia didn't create an entirely different player. It gave Hillmon another setting in which to use and build on skills she'd been developing for years.
And her offseason experience would soon include another professional league.
Unrivaled Added Another Dimension
Hillmon's offseason career also brought her into Unrivaled, the three-on-three professional basketball league that began play in 2025.
She joined the league as a relief player during its inaugural season and was part of Rose BC's championship roster. The following year, she returned with a more established opportunity, playing for Laces BC during the 2026 season.
Across 14 regular-season games, Hillmon averaged 8.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists. She also recorded a 17-point performance against Lunar Owls BC in February.
The format was different from the WNBA and the Australian league. Three-on-three basketball creates more space, requires players to handle different defensive responsibilities and places a premium on quick decisions.
For Hillmon, it was another opportunity to compete in a setting that asked her to use several parts of her game. The physicality and rebounding remained important, but so did her ability to move, communicate and make decisions in space.
By the time she returned to Atlanta, Hillmon had accumulated professional experience across multiple leagues and styles of play. She'd handled significant offensive responsibility overseas, competed in a faster three-on-three format and continued learning how to fit within the Dream's evolving roster.
Those experiences didn't all require the same things from her, and that's part of what makes them meaningful.
Then Her Game Started Expanding
One of the most noticeable changes in Hillmon's WNBA career has been her perimeter shooting.
At Michigan, she had been dominant around the basket. Her strength, touch and rebounding made her difficult to handle inside, but she wasn't known as a three-point shooter.
Across her first three WNBA seasons, from 2022 through 2024, she made just one three-pointer.
In 2025, she made 53.
That change altered the way opponents had to defend her. A player who had previously done most of her offensive work closer to the basket was now someone defenses had to account for beyond the arc.
The additional spacing created opportunities for Atlanta's other scorers and gave the Dream more flexibility in its lineups. Hillmon could still establish position inside or pursue offensive rebounds, but defenders also had to respect the possibility that she'd step outside and make them pay for leaving her open.
Her overall production reflected that development. After averaging 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2024, Hillmon increased those numbers to 8.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 2025.
The assists were another meaningful part of that progression. Hillmon wasn't only finding additional scoring opportunities for herself. She was becoming more involved in moving the ball and connecting Atlanta's offense.
And the improvement came without sacrificing the physicality that had always been central to her game.
She still rebounded, competed inside and handled difficult defensive assignments. The difference was that Atlanta now had more ways to use her within its offense.
That development earned recognition.
The Award Recognized More Than a Bench Player
In 2025, Hillmon was named the WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, becoming the first player in Atlanta Dream history to receive the award. She also earned the Associated Press Sixth Player of the Year honor.
She appeared in all 44 regular-season games and became one of Atlanta's most dependable contributors. Her combination of rebounding, improved shooting, passing and defensive work helped the Dream maintain productive stretches across different lineup combinations.
Hillmon finished second overall in the WNBA in total plus-minus, at plus-335, and led Atlanta in net rating swing.
Plus-minus doesn't explain everything about an individual player's performance. It reflects team results during a player's minutes, and those results depend on the teammates and opponents sharing the floor. But alongside Hillmon's production and expanded responsibilities, it offered another indication of how effectively she fit into Atlanta's success.
The Dream finished the regular season with a franchise-record 30 victories, and Hillmon's contributions were part of a team that had developed into one of the league's strongest.
The award recognized what she'd accomplished in a reserve role, but it also reflected the larger development of a player who had become increasingly important to Atlanta's rotations.
And within the team itself, that importance was about more than where she entered the game or how many minutes she played.
The Glue That Holds Atlanta Together
When Rhyne Howard described Naz Hillmon as the backbone of the Atlanta Dream, she was speaking about someone she'd known long before they became professional teammates.
Their relationship began through USA Basketball in 2018 and continued when both entered the WNBA with Atlanta in 2022. Over the years, they've experienced changes in the team's roster, coaching staff and expectations while developing an understanding of how to work together.
That familiarity matters, but what makes Howard's description particularly meaningful is the way she explains Hillmon's contributions.
In an October 2026 interview with The IX Basketball, Howard praised Hillmon's basketball intelligence and pointed to the example she sets through her defensive work, screening, rebounding and willingness to pursue loose balls.
Howard wasn't describing a player who simply understands what her teammates need to do. She was describing someone who demonstrates those expectations through her own actions.
A screen can create the separation Howard needs to get a shot off. A defensive rotation can prevent an opponent from finding an easy opportunity. An extra rebound can give Atlanta another possession, and the right pass can turn a difficult offensive sequence into a better look.
Hillmon's work connects those moments.
But there's another part of her leadership that deserves attention, and it goes back further than her professional career.
Hillmon has spoken about learning to use her voice during her freshman year at Michigan. She credited the older players around her with helping her understand how to communicate, encourage teammates and offer the kind of feedback a team sometimes needs.
That experience helped shape the way she approaches leadership in Atlanta.
In a 2026 interview with ClutchPoints, Hillmon explained that she wanted to be someone her teammates could rely on regardless of how much she played. She described the importance of offering both encouragement and honest opinions, recognizing that leadership requires knowing when to support someone and when to speak up.
That distinction gives her role more depth.
Hillmon isn't simply the player who communicates during defensive possessions. She's someone who has spent years developing an understanding of how to use her voice within a team.
And sometimes that means being direct.
During a June 2026 game, Hillmon was captured addressing her teammates in a huddle after a defensive stretch she wasn't satisfied with. She challenged the group to be better, then brought everyone together before they returned to the floor.
It was a brief moment, but it offered a glimpse of the accountability she brings to Atlanta.
That kind of leadership doesn't always appear in the final box score. It can happen between possessions, during a timeout or in the moments when a team needs someone to acknowledge that its performance hasn't been good enough.
Hillmon has also spoken about the importance of encouraging her teammates, and that balance matters. Being vocal isn't simply about correcting mistakes. It's about understanding the people around you well enough to know what they need.
Her connection with Howard offers a more personal example of that familiarity.
Reporting from their rookie season described a friendship that included plenty of humor away from the court. The two frequently spent time together, and Hillmon spoke about Howard's playful personality, a side of her that people outside the team might not always recognize.
That relationship has continued alongside their professional development. They've spent years learning one another's tendencies, understanding how each responds to different situations and adjusting as Atlanta's identity has changed.
Those relationships are part of what makes team chemistry meaningful. The basketball responsibilities matter, but so does the trust that develops between people who spend years competing, traveling and working together.
Hillmon's leadership brings those parts of the game together.
She's capable of communicating through a difficult defensive possession, handling a physical assignment or creating space for a teammate. But she's also willing to address the group when something needs to change and offer encouragement when someone needs support.
And she's earned that responsibility while continuing to develop her own game.
That's why the description of Hillmon as Atlanta's glue feels appropriate.
It's not a way of placing her behind the team's more visible stars. It's a recognition of the basketball, relationships and accountability that help a team function, and the role Hillmon has built in connecting them.
Dallas Saw What the Work Had Become
Hillmon's expanding offensive game was especially visible during a July 30, 2025, matchup against the Dallas Wings. She scored a career-high 21 points, connected on five three-pointers and delivered the game-winning shot. For a player who had made only one three-pointer across her first three WNBA seasons, the performance was a striking example of how far her perimeter game had developed.
The timing made it even more memorable. With the game tied in the closing seconds, Hillmon connected on a three-pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining, giving Atlanta the lead. That wasn't simply a player taking advantage of an occasional open look. It was someone who had worked to expand her offensive game stepping into a significant moment and delivering.
Hillmon could spend one night helping Atlanta through rebounding, screens and defensive effort, then provide a major scoring contribution when the opportunity presented itself. Those weren't two different versions of the same player. They were parts of a game that had continued to grow.
The Dallas performance showed another way she could influence the outcome, and that same versatility would become especially valuable when Atlanta reached the WNBA Finals.
Game 3 Was Another Reminder, Not a Revelation
Through the first two games of the 2026 WNBA Finals against the Golden State Valkyries, Hillmon scored five points in Game 1 and two in Game 2.
Her offensive production was modest, but she continued playing meaningful minutes, helping with defensive assignments, screening and spacing the floor. Those responsibilities were already part of her established role in Atlanta's system.
Then came Game 3.
With Atlanta looking to take a 2–1 lead in the series, Hillmon provided one of her strongest scoring performances of the postseason.
She connected on consecutive three-pointers in the first quarter, giving the Dream an early offensive lift. She added another three before halftime and continued finding ways to contribute as Atlanta built its advantage.
By the end of the night, Hillmon had scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. She finished plus-17 in Atlanta's 97–71 victory, helping the Dream move ahead in the Finals.
The three made three-pointers were particularly significant considering how recently Hillmon had expanded that part of her game. Across her first three WNBA seasons, she had made only one. Now, on the Finals stage, she was providing Atlanta with the same perimeter shooting that had become such an important part of her development.
Her scoring gave the Dream another offensive option, but the performance also demonstrated how the different parts of her game could work together.
Hillmon was still helping with defensive responsibilities, setting screens and creating opportunities for teammates. The difference was that she was also providing a significant share of Atlanta's scoring.
After the game, Hillmon spoke about how her shooting could help open the paint for her teammates.
That explanation is important because it connects the performance to the way she understands her role. Her three-pointers weren't only about the points they added to Atlanta's total. They also made defenders account for her on the perimeter, creating more space for teammates to operate inside.
The night was worth celebrating on its own terms. Fifteen points in a Finals victory, three made three-pointers and another example of the offensive growth she'd worked to develop.
Game 3 brought several of those skills together in a particularly visible performance.
It didn't create them.
Winning Has Never Been Just One Thing
Naz Hillmon's career has taken her through different basketball environments, each asking something different from her.
Michigan gave her the responsibility of being an offensive centerpiece. USA Basketball placed her alongside other talented players competing for international championships. In Australia, she demonstrated that she could remain a productive scorer and rebounder while handling significant offensive responsibility.
Unrivaled gave her another professional format in which to compete, while Atlanta became the place where those experiences and skills developed into a more versatile WNBA role.
The Sixth Player of the Year award recognized that growth, and her expanded shooting range made her more difficult to defend. But the trust she's built within the Dream has come from the consistency of her contributions across different responsibilities.
That's what makes Howard's description of Hillmon as Atlanta's backbone so meaningful.
It recognizes a player whose impact isn't limited to one assignment or one moment. Someone who understands how her decisions affect the people around her and who has spent years learning how to help her team function.
Game 3 deserves its place in that story. Hillmon's 15 points helped Atlanta take control of the Finals, and her three made three-pointers showed how far her perimeter game had come.
But the foundation was there long before the Finals. Michigan established her ability to lead through production. International competition and her time overseas gave her opportunities to contribute in different roles, while her years in Atlanta helped turn that versatility into something her teammates could depend on.
Hillmon's career hasn't been about replacing one version of herself with another. It's been about adding to what she already knew how to do.
And that's why calling Naz Hillmon the glue of the Atlanta Dream isn't simply a compliment.
It's an acknowledgment of what she's been helping hold together all along.
Enjoyed this story? Support independent basketball journalism and help Courtside With Asia keep telling the stories that deserve more attention.
Comments