When the Atlanta Dream’s Wednesday matchup against the Chicago Sky rolls around, it will be the first time in 619 days that veteran guard Tiffany Hayes puts on a Dream jersey.
Hayes, who has played her entire career for the Dream since they drafted her out of UConn in 2012, may have been away for a while after opting out of the 2020 WNBA “bubble” season, but she’s actually a stalwart for an organization that’s undergone significant change over the last few years.
Only two current Atlanta players were on the team when Hayes last played in 2019, the organization since bringing in Courtney Williams and Odyssey Sims in free agency and young stars Chennedy Carter and Aari McDonald as lottery draft picks. Within the last few months alone, the Dream’s ownership group changed hands from Mary Brock and former U.S. senator Kelly Loeffler to former Dream and UConn star Renee Montgomery and Hartford investor Larry Gottesdiener. Since April, former GM Chris Sienko was fired, and Dream coach Nicki Collen accepted a new job as head coach at Baylor.
“I said this to somebody, ‘I feel like I’m the last one standing from when I first got here,’ ” Hayes chuckled Monday following her second practice with the 2021 Atlanta team.
She’s right: No one else from the 2012 Dream roster, players or coaches, remains.
As the Dream enters a new phase, Hayes is down to roll with the punches and is excited to see what this group is capable of on the court.
“It’s kind of weird, but at the same time, I just go with the flow. I take it one day at a time,” Hayes said. “Sometimes change is good, so hopefully all of this plays out in our favor. We’re going to take this and run with it and still do our thing, so we’re not going to let this bring us down like everyone thinks it is.”
As the Dream missed the playoffs last season, finishing the regular season 7-15, Hayes watched from afar. She opted out in part due to COVID-19 concerns but also to focus on social justice activism.
The time off was the most she’s had in years, and it served her well.
“I’m not going to lie, I loved my time away from the game. I’m not going to sit here and say I missed it,” Hayes said. “Of course I love basketball, I love playing the game. But when you’re a woman in this game, you have to continuously play year-round, and I think that was eight years straight of playing year-round. It definitely gets to you. It gets to your body. It gets to your mind.
“For me to step away for that whole summer and just be able to watch basketball and enjoy the fruits of my labor — I never get to be in my home that I purchased for myself and my family, I never get to spend time with my family — was great for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. … But I don’t take either one [playing or not playing] for granted.”
Hayes eventually got back into game form, playing with Spain’s Perfumerias Avenida alongside fellow WNBA players Katie Lou Samuelson and Bella Alaire. The team fell to UMMC Ekaterinburg in the EuroLeague Finals, though Hayes erupted for 29 points in that game. Avenida went on to win the Spanish league finals before Hayes joined up with the Dream last week.
After missing the Dream’s season opener on Friday, a 78-67 loss to Connecticut, and completing COVID-19 protocols, Hayes is good to go for the Sky game Wednesday.
“She has come in, hit the ground running,” said interim Dream coach Mike Petersen said. “She was up to speed on the playbook almost immediately. Her defensive presence is hard to explain. It would have been nice to have her before this, but frankly, at the end of today, it was like she’s been here the whole time.
“She’s made a couple of plays the last two days of practice where those who have not played with her before were just like, ‘holy cow.’ Everybody loves her, and her play speaks for itself.”
Hayes said she’s especially looking forward to playing with Courtney Williams, who arrived in Atlanta after the 2019 season (“I think it’s going to be crazy!”), but she’ll also have a group of younger players like McDonald and Carter to help shepherd. At 31, Hayes is the oldest player on the roster.
“I can tell that she’s a hard worker, she’s going to work hard and play hard out there on the court, and she’s a communicator,” Carter said. “She loves to communicate with her teammates and let us know if we’re not in the right spot or what we could do better. Being older and a veteran on the team who’s been there, she’s somebody that we can look up to and really listen to. She’s an important factor on our team, and I’m glad to have her back.”
“Her energy level is always phenomenal, her talent level is obviously fabulous and she’s just got this great voice,” Petersen added. “At the end of the practice yesterday, she called everyone together and talked to the team and just did a great job.”
The Dream are one of the more intriguing teams in the league this year, loading up on speedy guards and hoping to counter their lack of height with a pace no one else can keep up with.
Hayes’ return should help, too. A 2017 All-Star and 2018 All-WNBA first team and All-Defensive second team pick, Hayes led the team in scoring 2017-19 and is a 42.3% shooter from the field and 31.9 percent on threes.
“Having Tip back is a huge boost for us,” Petersen said. “We missed her last year.”
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com
