Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series from SB Nation profiling the 2025 WNBA All-Star teams. Today, let’s get to know Rhyne Howard.
Dream star leads the league in three-pointers — and it’s nothing new
Rhyne Howard became a three-time WNBA All-Star this season — and is proud of her all-around game.
Photo by Joe Boatman/NBAE via Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
Since she was drafted, Rhyne Howard has experienced lots of success in the league. The 2022 Rookie of the Year was named to three All-Star games in her first four seasons in the WNBA, and the accolade never gets old.
“It’s fun to have that recognition of your hard work, and it’s the same testament of putting in the work and it not going unnoticed,” Howard told SB Nation, adding she’s particularly excited by the opportunity to spend time with other All-Stars she’s not used to seeing every day.
This season, the former Kentucky star is averaging 16.5 points, 5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.6 steals. And, both her rebounds and assists have marked career-highs.
And, so far, she’s made more threes (56) than any other WNBA player this season. Injuries will keep Howard out of the All-Star game — she’s out for the rest of the month after injuring her left knee this past weekend — but she’ll nonetheless earn the accolade.
Howard is proud of how she’s been able to expand her game this season
This summer, the Dream acquired Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones in free agency and drafted Te-Hina Paopao to bolster the backcourt. In turn, the Dream have seen far more success than they did last year, when Howard had to carry a larger offensive load.
“In the past, it’s been like score, score, score, but this year, I’m doing a little bit more rebounding and more assisting and keeping everybody involved and being more of a playmaker,” Howard said. “I don’t have all the extra weight of having to necessarily score every time, because we have that much talent on our team. But, I’m able to still have an impact on the game.”
Offensively, Howard has seen some slippage. She’s shooting 34.7% from the field and 30.3% from three, both career lows.
But that hasn’t always mattered, with the Dream still seeing far more success than previous seasons.
“I don’t have no problem being the go-to score,” Howard. “It is a sigh of relief to not have to — not that I want the break, or not that I don’t want that moment, but being able to, essentially, have offnights, and still having the team come out with good success and good outcomes [has been great].”
Howard said that the end goal is for the Dream to win a title, and that governs the everyday.
“Every game plan is different,” Howard said. “So, making sure that we’re keying in on the little things and keying in on things that make us great — and continuing to do those every day.”
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