Te-Hina Paopao is the kind of player who doesn’t get a lot of headlines, but she’s been quietly making an impact for the Atlanta Dream through the first 16 games of the season. The second-year guard has seen her minutes bounce around, and she’s not afraid to say it’s been a little rough. But she’s also not complaining about it.
Before the Dream took on the Toronto Tempo, Paopao talked about how different this season feels compared to her rookie year. She started last season because Jordin Canada was out, and that was its own kind of trial by fire. Now she’s coming off the bench more, and the inconsistency has been a real challenge.
“I started last season because Jordin was out, and that was a challenge for me as well, just because coming into my rookie season, it was pretty challenging, but at the end of the day, my teammates helped me get through that,” Paopao said. “This year, it’s been a little shaky as well. I am not going to lie to you. Minutes have been up and down, but at the end of the day, it’s all about what I can do to help the team win, and if those minutes I’m in are being impactful, I know that I’m gonna be an important piece to this team.”
Minutes are fluctuating but the approach isn’t
Paopao’s role isn’t as clearly defined as it was last season, and it shows in the numbers. Some nights she’s on the floor for 20-plus minutes. Other nights she barely cracks 10. It would be easy for a young player to get frustrated and start pressing, but Paopao seems to get it. She knows the Dream are deep, and she knows her time will come.
“I just know that my time is gonna come, and I just have to keep pushing that agenda and keep doing what I can do with the minutes that I get and just wanting to win at the end of the day, ’cause wins matter,” she said.
That’s the kind of mentality that keeps a player in the league long enough to carve out a real career. And it’s not like Paopao is just hanging around out there. Her three-point shooting is still reliable, and she’s got that floater in the paint that’s tough to defend. On defense she’s said she wants to keep getting better, and she’s shown real effort on that end.
What happens next
The Dream are playing good ball right now, and they’re only going to get better as the season goes. They’ve got depth and they’ve got balance. Any given night, it could be a starter or a bench player stepping up, and that’s a problem for the rest of the league. For Paopao, it’s about stringing together a few solid games in a row. If she can do that, the minutes will level out. And if the minutes level out, she’s going to be a real problem for opposing guards.
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