The Dream didn’t make any moves at the trade deadline, but general manager Dan Padover is confident in the current roster.
It was a quiet trade deadline for the entire WNBA, as only two deals took place. The Atlanta Dream were not a part of either of those deals, as they were one of the many teams who decided to stand pat for the remainder of the season. A week after the deadline, general manager Dan Padover revealed that the team was active, but ultimately didn’t see anything that could help them.
“We’re always active at the deadline. Nothing that came to fruition that we felt was going to enhance our team. This is our squad. We feel really good about it. We think our best basketball is ahead of us, and we’re just looking forward to getting more reps,” Padover said.
After their win against the Toronto Tempo, the Dream are now 20-12 and are in fourth place in the standings. That sounds good, until you look at the rest of the teams below them and notice that they’re either half a game or a whole game back from dipping in the standings.
The Dream could’ve made a move here or there to help them try to separate from that bunch, but they believe in the roster they currently have.
“I think if opportunities were there that would enhance our team, we would have; that didn’t happen. We’re fortunate enough to have a great squad, deep roster, and we’re just looking forward to seeing them continue to get better every game,” Padover said.
It’s not always easy to make a trade, and with the CBA that was signed during the offseason, it didn’t make it any easier for teams to do deals.
“We don’t have as many assets to go around as the NBA does. We have a hard cap, and having just come off of a CBA, a lot of people were signed to multi-year deals,” Padover said. ”I think the history of trade deadlines, where you see a lot of movement, is people on expiring contracts, or one-year deals, where there’s buyers and sellers. I think this year there are very few of those situations, which, when you already have some constraints, you add on just a few people being on expiring contracts. I think that’s why you only saw one or two trades at the deadline.”
For Padover and the Dream, they believe they have the roster that can compete now and into the future. With the season coming down the stretch, they’ll have to find a way to stay near the top of the standings while fighting off the teams who are close to them.
It was a quiet trade deadline for the entire WNBA, as only two deals took place. The Atlanta Dream were not a part of either of those deals, as they were one of the many teams who decided to stand pat for the remainder of the season. A week after the deadline, general manager Dan Padover revealed that the team was active, but ultimately didn’t see anything that could help them.