The Atlanta Dream announced on Saturday that they have acquired former WNBA Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield from the Dallas Wings in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 draft. Dangerfield’s arrival comes shortly after the team disclosed that key offseason addition Jordin Canada is out indefinitely with a right hand injury.
Later on Saturday, the Dream defeated the Washington Mystics, 87-84, in their first preseason game. With Canada sidelined, Atlanta’s starting lineup did not include a traditional point guard. Instead, Haley Jones nominally filled the role alongside Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray.
While Jones, the No. 6 overall pick in 2023, does possess some playmaking skills, she struggled at times as a rookie and was barely playing down the stretch. Furthermore, she’s a non-shooter and the Dream already struggle with spacing moreso than perhaps any team in the league.
Bringing in Dangerfield suggests two things: one, the Dream are not comfortable with Jones running the offense full-time, and two, Canada is going to be out for an extended period. The latter would be a real bummer after the Dream pulled off a big trade this winter to bring Canada to town and fill their need at point guard.
Canada was terrific last season in a breakout campaign for the Los Angeles Sparks. She averaged 13.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game, while shooting 33.3% from 3-point land. All of those marks were career-highs, and she led the league in steals while finishing sixth in assists. She was named to the All-Defensive First Team and finished as the runner-up to Satou Sabally for Most Improved Player.
While Dangerfield doesn’t have Canada’s defensive chops, she’s been around the league for a while now and knows how to run a team. She did not shoot the ball well last season for the Dallas Wings, but was at 35.3% from behind the arc for her career before that.
For only a third-round pick, it was certainly worth bringing in Dangerfield to hopefully gain some solidity at point guard ahead of a big season for the Dream.
