# Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries Reach WNBA Finals via Unconventional Paths
The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries will contest the 2024 WNBA Finals without following the league's dominant championship blueprint. Of the last 16 WNBA champions dating to 2010, twelve possessed at least two No. 1 overall picks. Neither Finals team meets that criterion.
The Dream roster contains only one No. 1 overall pick: Rhyne Howard, selected first in 2022. Allisha Gray, the other lottery pick in the series, was drafted No. 4 in 2017 by Dallas. Both were acquired through trade, not internal development.
Dream general manager Dan Padover executed an aggressive trade strategy after his October 2021 hiring. On April 5, 2022, he traded Chennedy Carter and Li Yueru rights to Los Angeles for Erica Wheeler and a 2023 first-round pick. One day later, Padover sent the Nos. 3 and 14 picks plus swap rights to Washington for the No. 1 selection. He used that top pick on Howard and the No. 15 pick on Naz Hillmon.
Howard won Rookie of the Year in 2022 and has made four All-Star teams in five seasons with Atlanta. Hillmon was named Sixth Player of the Year last season.
Prior to the 2023 season, Padover traded the No. 3 pick and Atlanta's 2025 first-round selection to Dallas for Allisha Gray. Gray has made All-Star teams in all four seasons with the Dream and finished fourth in MVP voting last season, averaging a career-high 19 points this season.
Before the 2024 season, Padover sent the No. 8 pick and Aari McDonald to Los Angeles for Jordin Canada and the No. 12 pick. Canada, a two-time champion with Seattle, recorded 7.3 assists per game this season.
The Valkyries pursued an unconventional expansion draft and free agency approach. The league's four teams with multiple No. 1 overall picks this season, Dallas, Indiana, Las Vegas and New York, did not reach the Finals.