Dream Coach Highlights Madina Okot’s ‘All-Star and Above’ Potential After Clutch Win
The Atlanta Dream’s 93-91 win against the Chicago Sky was anything but pretty. Atlanta squandered a 22-point lead and shot just 29% from deep. Still, there was one clear bright spot: rookie Madina Okot stepped up big when the Dream needed it the most.
Angel Reese went down with an injury early in the fourth quarter. Her leg buckled on a fastbreak layup—it was initially called a foul on Courtney Vandersloot, but the call was overturned as Vandersloot just flew past Reese—and she came up clutching her knee. Reese was ruled out for the remainder of the game, but returned to the bench and lifted Jordin Canada after she hit the game-winning layup. Both are good signs.
The Dream couldn’t have lost Reese at a worse time. The game was close, Chicago’s bigs were playing well, and Brionna Jones had already almost hit her 15-minute limit after returning from a knee injury. But Okot stepped up and earned high praise from head coach Karl Smesko, who is very confident in her WNBA future.
“She’s willing to work every day, and I just hope she realizes how good she can be and just wants to work to and get there because the potential is there to be an All-Star and above player,” Smesko said in the postgame media availability, per a video on the Dream’s YouTube channel.
He also added, “Today will be a good confidence builder for her that she was there in clutch time, and not only was she there in clutch time, but she performed at a high level during those minutes.”
Okot played well down the stretch
Okot checked into the game at the 7:25 mark of the fourth quarter when Chicago was up three points. She immediately gave the Sky trouble in the paint when she took the ball to the rim over Elizabeth Williams for her first two points of the quarter.
Okot didn’t check out until there were just 33 seconds left in the game. She recorded ten points in the quarter, more than anyone except Jordin Canada.
Her contributions were crucial, as the Dream had to win a close game with one of their best players sidelined and another on a minutes restriction.
Okot’s development will be a long-term project for the Dream
Okot has proven that she can compete with WNBA-level players and impact winning, but she still has so much room to grow. She is only 21 years old and played just two seasons of college basketball—one at Mississippi State and one for Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks—before running out of eligibility, as she had already played two seasons for Zetech University in Kenya before coming to the U.S.
Moreover, Okot didn’t even start playing basketball until 2020, when she was 16—much later than most WNBA players. Okot is just scratching the surface and needs more time to develop and learn the game.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.