Gray snatches the ball, and in an instant, her teammate Rhyne Howard is in her face, arm extended, lightly challenging the shot. But Gray doesn’t flinch. She quickly kicks the ball back to Lyles, who fires it right back. Gray takes a couple of hard dribbles to her left, rises up and buries a triple.
After knocking down a couple of off-the-dribble threes, the veteran guard, sporting her signature look — clear protective goggles, white headband and forearm bands, white tights, and the pink A’ura Nike A’ja Wilson A’Ones — locks in even deeper. She steps into rhythm, ripping off a string of catch-and-shoot threes from the left wing and top of the key, each release as crisp as the last.
That rhythm, that motion and that moment have become second nature inside Gateway Center Arena and a growing fixture on TV screens, arena jumbotrons and social media feeds, often accompanied by bold captions spotlighting Gray’s breakout surge this season.
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The Dream (13-9) went on to take down the Valkyries that night. When the final buzzer sounds, Gray has every reason to smile. The win capped off the Dream’s final home game before kicking off a grueling six-game stretch. Gray led the charge, dropping her eighth 20-plus point performance of the season and another statement outing that cemented her status as a bona fide WNBA All-Star this season.
“I feel like I’m comfortable in my game,” Gray said. “All my hard work is showing. I put in a lot of work during the offseason. I’m having fun.”
Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (15) celebrates a 3-point shot against the Seattle Storm during the first quarter at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Ga., on July 3, 2025. (Photo Credit: Jordan Godfree | Imagn Images)
Gray, the No. 4 pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft, is in her third season with the Dream after six seasons with the Dallas Wings. The 2025 campaign marks her third consecutive All-Star selection of her career and her first nod as a starter. When Gray takes the floor for Team Collier — led by Minnesota Lynx star and captain Napheesa Collier — in the annual midsummer classic on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, she will become the Dream’s first All-Star starter since 2018 and only the second player in the franchise’s history with three All-Star selections.
“I texted [Gray] right when she found out [about being a starter],” Lyles told The Next. “All the recognition she’s getting is definitely earned. She puts everything into her craft, she watches film, she’s coachable, and she wants to take her game to the next level.”
Before Gray takes the court under the All-Star lights on Saturday night, she’ll first seek to defend her titles in the WNBA Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest. Last year, she dominated both events, defeating New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones 22–21 in the 3-Point Contest and outracing the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham in the skills challenge with a winning time of 32.1 seconds.
By sweeping both competitions, Gray became the first player in WNBA history to win both events on the same night, and only the third player ever to claim both events in their career. For her victories, she earned $110,000 from Aflac, in partnership with the WNBPA, plus an additional $2,575 per event from the league.
Gray will face off against the Washington Mystics’ Sonia Citron, the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, the Los Angeles Sparks’ Kelsey Plum and the Fever’s Lexie Hull in this year’s 3-Point Contest. Indiana star Caitlin Clark was slated to join the field, but a right groin injury — sustained during the Fever’s win against the Connecticut Sun — will keep the 2024 Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star from competing in all on-court events during All-Star Weekend.
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The 6′ guard will take on the Liberty’s Natasha Cloud, the Seattle Storm’s Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler and the Minnesota Lynx’s Courtney Williams in the skills challenge, a timed course designed to test dribbling, passing and shooting under pressure.
On one of the league’s biggest stages, surrounded by top-tier talent, Gray welcomes the challenge. She isn’t shying away from the spotlight. Last year, she delivered when the lights were brightest, with family, friends, and peers watching her shine. This time, she brings experience into the moment. But her confidence, composure and poise didn’t appear overnight. Those traits — attributes that she’s glad people are finally noticing in both her game and personality — were strategically cultivated and groomed well before she donned a Dream jersey or imagined becoming a WNBA All-Star.
Atlanta Dream: All-Star Allisha Gray has found freedom and joy with the Atlanta Dream
Gray’s rise was built on belief, repetition and relentless work
In just three seasons, “Goggle Lish”— also known as the “silent assassin”— has become a go-to weapon in first-year head coach Karl Smesko’s up-tempo system, built on offensive efficiency and high-volume 3-point shooting. A steady two-way force, Gray is posting career highs across the board, averaging 35.5 minutes (second best in the league), 18.4 points, 12.9 shot attempts, 2.3 made threes on 6.1 attempts, 4.8 made free throws on 5.9 attempts, 4.6 defensive boards, 5.6 total rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, per Her Hoop Stats.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, who coached Gray for two seasons that included the Gamecocks’ first women’s NCAA title campaign in 2017, said the former Gamecock has been built for this moment, one shaped by the offseason grind she puts in when no one’s watching.
“Allisha is a pro’s pro,” Staley told The Next. “Her offseason habits have paid off with big dividends during the season. It’s been a buildup to where she is now. You may not get the results that you want in year one, year two or year three [in the league]. She’s gotten better each year, and now she’s playing her best basketball in her prime.”
Dream rookie Te-Hina Paopao concurs: “Her confidence, the way she just goes out there and hoops and doesn’t even think about anything, she just does what the team needs her to do on both ends of the court,” she said, coming off her fifth double-digit performance this season on Wednesday. “That’s inspired me to play on both ends of the court.”
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Through 22 games, Gray leads the league in total minutes (781), ranks fifth in total points (404) and sits fourth in made threes (51) — trailing only three-time All-Star Howard, Plum and the Lynx’s Kayla McBride. Gray also ranks in the top five in free-throw rate (28.4%), third in offensive rating (120.4), and in the top four in both win shares (3.9) and offensive win shares (3.0) according to Her Hoop Stats.
Her prowess earned her two Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors this season, making her the first Dream player to receive the recognition since 2018. But she didn’t stop there. She also swept Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors for May and June, becoming the first player in franchise history to win multiple monthly awards in a single season and the first from the East to claim the season’s opening two months since 2019.
“She’s adapted well to a new system,” Smesko said. “It’s a daily thing, every practice, every game. She was a great player before I got here. She’s been exceptional … really showing why she’s one of the best players in the league.”
Hollman agrees: “She’s got freedom,” he told The Next. “There’s a certain type of confidence when you know your coach has your back and gives you the green light.”
Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (15) shoots over Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22) during the second half at Gateway Center Arena at College Park on July 7, 2025. (Photo Credit: Dale Zanine | Imagn Images)
But before the WNBA landscape at large and the world started tweeting about “Goggle Lish” and really capturing her standout moments like a well-oiled machine, trainer John Hollman had a front-row seat to Gray’s rise, long before the spotlight truly found her. Hollman began training Gray in 2019, dating back to her tenure with the Wings. At that time, he trained Gray four to five days a week around 10 a.m., sometimes doubling up with two-a-day sessions, breaking down her skills brick by brick while adding new ones to her arsenal.
“She’d done everything to become a pro,” Hollman told The Next. “She’d got there [WNBA] for the most part based on grit, toughness and her attitude. But she had the potential to grow, so we broke things down piece by piece.”
Even now, Hollman runs Gray through timed drills focused on catch-and-shoot reps, transition reads and creating efficient looks off the dribble, music to Coach Smesko’s ears. To sharpen her attack off the bounce, Hollman emphasized her floater, added pump fakes to her arsenal, and worked in more snatches, pull-back moves paired with crossovers or behind-the-back dribbles to create space. While that package of moves has been added to her game, she wasn’t always excited during the process.
“She’ll say ‘I hate floaters,’” Hollman told The Next with a laugh. “She hates pump fakes and she hates doing snatches. She very much likes to attack the rim hard. But as you get older, extending the longevity of the game becomes a thing. So, increasing those things more, she had a very love-hate relationship with them.”
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But the work is paying off, and Gray is cashing in on her daily grind. After the Dream’s 92–91 victory against the Mystics on June 20, Smesko reflected on the difference between the Gray he knew from afar and the version he’s coaching now in his first season.
Smesko, an avid film junkie who uses a unique basketball language to dissect every detail that even seasoned observers may miss, said she’s merely seeing her opportunities a lot differently this season.
“The shot quality that she’s getting is better,” Smekso said. “She’s moving without the ball. She’s finding her opportunities to cut. She’s scoring in conversion. She’ll sneak a putback in every once in a while. … It’s not that she has to break people down every time and shoot with a hand in her face every time. … I think she has really benefited from just understanding these opportunities as they develop.”
Still, Gray’s early training with Hollman wasn’t just about sharpening her physical skills. When the historic and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, they shifted to Zoom sessions to stay safe. But Hollman stayed intentional about building her mental edge. That mindset set the tone for everything to come.
Each time Gray logged on to Zoom, the screen flashed a title “All-Star Lish” long before she ever earned the honor. By the time the Wings traded her to the Dream in January 2023, Hollman had already helped plant the belief she needed in order to thrive. The confidence to play freely was already in motion.
Gray’s breakout became undeniable during her dominant run with Athletes Unlimited, where she claimed the individual title after setting records in leaderboard points, scoring average, total points, threes made and free throws. She carried that momentum into the inaugural season of the 3×3 league Unrivaled, starring for Team Lunar Owls. Gray finished as the team’s second-leading scorer behind Collier and helped power the squad to the 3×3 semifinals.
“I wanted her to elevate on the court as well in her mind and emotionally,” Hollman told The Next. “Allisha was very quiet and still kind of like that at times. She was a roll with the punches, go with the flow type of player. But now, she’s opening up more, and you’re seeing the most free version of herself on and off the court. … She also told me [laughs] if she wasn’t going to go overseas to play, that I was going to have to get her to another level. I think we would both agree that this was one of the best decisions for her game.”
Gray agrees: “He’s more than a trainer to me,” she told The Next. “He’s been locked in with me for pretty much my whole career. He’s like family, and I credit a lot of my success to him.”
Allisha Gray, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Napheesa Collier for Lunar Owls BC at Unrivaled, Wayfair Arena, Miami, Florida. (Photo Credit: Hannah Kevorkian | The Next)
Dream season: Atlanta Dream aim to prove themselves in pivotal six-game road test
With the second half on the horizon, Gray is ready to take charge
The Dream currently sit fifth in the WNBA standings, trailing the Storm, Mercury, Liberty and Lynx as they push through a grueling six-game road trip.
A year ago, things looked drastically different. At the All-Star/Paris Olympics break, Atlanta was ravaged by injuries, had rolled out seven different starting lineups and entered the hiatus at 7–17 with an eight-game skid. Statistically, they ranked last in points, assists, and field goal percentage; 11th in threes made and 3-point percentage; sixth in both free throws made and offensive rebounds; third in free throws attempted and defensive rebounds; and eighth in turnovers per game. Even then, Gray led the Dream in minutes (32.4) and had already started elevating her game, especially from beyond the arc.
Atlanta Dream forward Brionna Jones (24), guard Allisha Gray (15), guard Te-Hina Paopao (2), center Brittney Griner (42) talk during the dead ball in the game against the New York Liberty during the first quarter at Gateway Center Arena at College Park. (Photo Credit: Jordan Godfree | Imagn Images)
But now, Atlanta (13-9) has tied for its third-best record through 22 games in franchise history. After opening their six-game road trip 1–2 — including a dominant win against the Sky on Wednesday — the Dream closed the first half on a high note. The last time Atlanta started this well was in 2018, a year when the Dream reached the WNBA semifinals under former coach Nicki Collen.
Statistically, the Dream rank fourth in scoring (83.8), eighth in field goal percentage (43%), fifth in both threes made (9.3) and assists (21.0) and third in threes attempted (28.8) per game. They also rank fifth in free throws made (16.0), third in free throws attempted (21.1), first in defensive rebounds (28.3), fourth in offensive boards (9.3), second in fewest turnovers (13.0) and fourth in blocks (4.5) per contest.
Although Gray was voted the top guard by media and players and finished seventh in fan voting for this year’s All-Star Game, she struggled from the field in the final stretch before the break, shooting just 8-of-32 overall, and 4-of-21 in the Dream’s two most recent losses. And yet, she isn’t worried. There’s no sign of panic as she heads into the second half of the season.
“We’re still in a great position,” Gray told The Next. “Every [team] is really neck and neck [in the standings].”
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As Gray takes the court alongside the league’s elite in this year’s All-Star showcase, Hollman hopes she takes a moment to reflect on how far she’s come in the last five years. But once the break ends, it’s back to business. With Howard out for the rest of July due to a left knee injury and the Dream still grinding through a tough road trip before returning home to face the Valkyries on July 29, Gray knows she has to stay locked in and keep applying pressure through the second half of the season.
“I call it bookbag Lish because she got something in her bag that people don’t know about yet,” Hollman told The Next. “She got to dig in that bookbag and pull it out. … When I say that, she knows exactly what I’m talking about. Is it digging in her bag to be MVP, getting more rebounds? Whatever it is, the goal is to win, and that’s her mindset at all times.”