On September 21, 2026, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Rhyne Howard made her second three-pointer of the night and reached 500 for her WNBA career. The Atlanta Dream guard did it in her 178th regular-season game, making her both the fastest and, at 26, the youngest player to reach that mark, according to the team’s official recap.
It was a small moment inside a much larger road victory. Atlanta beat the New York Liberty 95-84, its fourth consecutive win, and moved closer to securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Howard finished with 16 points, one of five Dream players in double figures.
A milestone built from distance
Five hundred made threes is a career achievement, not a one-night shooting explosion. Howard’s arrival at the number in only 178 games tells a different story from a veteran slowly accumulating attempts over a decade. A Yahoo Sports report on the milestone independently noted both the youngest and fastest marks and identified the two triples that carried her to 500.
Her path to this threshold has been unusually direct. The WNBA player biography documents earlier speed marks at 300 and 400 career threes. Reaching 500 in Brooklyn continued that pattern, although it did not require her to lead Atlanta in scoring that night.
Indeed, Howard and Allisha Gray went scoreless on five combined attempts in the first quarter. The Dream trailed 24-23 after one period and 33-27 midway through the second, according to the team’s account. Atlanta then closed the half strongly, took a 41-38 lead into the break and scored 32 points in the third quarter. Howard’s milestone shot came later, in the fourth.
Five scorers, two unusual landmarks
The victory was not a one-player performance. Jordin Canada led Atlanta with 19 points and nine assists; Angel Reese added 18 points and 10 rebounds; DeWanna Bonner scored 17, Howard 16 and Gray 14. Field Level Media’s independent game report confirmed the result, those scoring contributions and the playoff stakes.
Canada had a milestone of her own. On Atlanta’s first basket, an assist to Reese, she became the fourth player in WNBA history to reach 300 assists in a season, the Dream reported. One game therefore paired Howard’s rapid long-range career total with Canada’s season-long playmaking mark.
Brooklyn’s result left the Dream at 29-14 with one regular-season game remaining, another meeting with the Liberty. The two teams had already secured playoff berths, but Atlanta still had positioning to play for. Howard’s 500th three was the night’s most unusual number; the win gave it immediate team significance.
Sources and further reading
- Atlanta Dream official game recap
- Yahoo Sports milestone report
- Field Level Media game report
- WNBA player biography
