The Atlanta Dream have acquired guard Crystal Dangerfield from the Dallas Wings in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in 2025 the clubs announced Saturday.
The move is the latest instalment in the circuitous journey which has been Dangerfield’s young career in the WNBA. Still only 25 years old, the former UConn standout was named Rookie of the Year in 2020 averaging 16.2pts and 3.6ast per game for the Minnesota Lynx.
After Sabrina Ionescu’s injury limited her to only 3 games, the 2020 WNBA rookie race because wide open, allowing Dangerfield to become the first player selected in outside the 1st round to win the award in league history. The 5’5″ guard earned 44 of a possible 47 votes from a national panel of sportswriters, easily beating out Dream guard Chennedy Carter and Wings forward Satou Sabally.
But after seeing her minutes dip from 30 a night to 20.1, and her averages slip to 7.7pts/2.8ast per contest, Dangerfield was waived following the 2021 campaign. Since then she’s had stops in Indiana, New York, and Dallas, sporting a career 8.7pts/3ast/2.2reb stat line across 120 WNBA games.
“We are excited to add an experienced player like Crystal to our roster,” said General Manager and Executive Vice President Dan Padover. “She brings WNBA experience to our team and gives us depth at the guard position as we gear up for the regular season.”
Atlanta finished 5th in the league in 2023 with a 19-21 record and will likely use Dangerfield as a rotational piece to spell Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray this season. The dynamic guards each averaged at least 17pts/3ast/1stl/4reb per game as both were named All-Stars last year.
In a corresponding move, the Dream waived forward Emma Cannon. Atlanta kicks off their regular season against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday May 15th.
Photo: John Mac. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.