The Atlanta Dream want coach Tanisha Wright and general manager Dan Padover to stick around, extending their contracts through the 2027 season, the team announced Tuesday.
“There is an excitement to know that the ownership group believes in you that much,” Wright told ESPN. “I’m excited to be here and build on the foundation that we started.”
Wright and Padover, both coming from the Las Vegas Aces, were hired by the Dream a few weeks apart in October 2021.
The team finished 14-22 last season and were in the playoff race until the last week of the season, and Atlanta’s No. 1 draft pick, Rhyne Howard, was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year.
In February of 2021, the Dream was bought by an ownership group headed by real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener.
“These are the people I want to run with,” Gottesdiener told ESPN of Wright and Padover. “They have the highest integrity, and they want to build a team the right way. It’s going to take time, and we wanted to say to them and to the world at large, this is a long-term project, and we’re all in this together.”
Padover, a New Jersey native and UConn graduate, has been the WNBA Executive of the Year twice. He engineered the April 2022 trade to get the No. 1 pick that landed Howard.
“I think our ownership group brought both of us in with the idea of, ‘How do we turn this around?'” Padover told ESPN. “And after a year, we made some good strides. What this commitment shows is they are supporting us to look out for the long-term of this franchise.
“With that, we’re able to make smart decisions, be patient, not skip any steps. We want to set this franchise up for years and years to come.”
Wright, 39, went from collegiate play at Penn State to a 14-year career in the WNBA with the Seattle Storm, New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, winning a championship with the Storm in 2010.
“I enjoy the development part of basketball, seeing players get better,” Wright said. “It doesn’t matter if they are young or if they’re vets, as long as they want to get better.”
–Field Level Media
