The day before the 2026 WNBA Draft, Atlanta Dream general manager Dan Padover spoke to the media. During that press conference, he was asked about his draft approach.
“There’s always the whole question, do you draft for need? (Do) you draft best player available?” Padover said. “We’re always looking to try and draft the best player available.”
Monday night, that best player was Madina Okot.
Okot, a 6-foot-6 senior from South Carolina, averaged a double-double last year for the Gamecocks, scoring 12.1 points and pulling down 10.6 rebounds per game.
“We’re really excited with how tonight went,” Padover said. “Okot is someone we’ve been targeting for a while now. (Head coach) Karl (Smesko) and the coaches are just thrilled to be able to start to work with her.”
With the Dream trading away their 2027 and 2028 first-round picks to the Chicago Sky for Angel Reese, as well as re-signing all of their starting five from a season ago, the vision was clear: the Dream are in it to win it.
“You always want to nail your picks. I don’t think it (trading the 2027 and 2028 picks) made it any more important to nail it or not,” Padover said. “I think right now, what we really feel good about is we’re securing a lot of assets, whether it be through free agency, trade market, or through the draft that we can build with for a long little runway here.”
By drafting Okot in the first round, the Dream can slowly roll her in with the depth that they have in the frontcourt.
“When we got the opportunity, we seized it, and we’re so excited to add her to the Dream,” Smesko said. “I think her ability to just crash the boards and the way she moves defensively, she’s going to be a great addition.”
Last year, one of the Dream’s focuses was wanting their bigs to have the ability to offer spacing by being able to shoot threes and mid-range shots.
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Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones, and Naz Hillmon all recorded career highs in three-point attempts last year and three-point percentage under Smesko.
As the 2025-26 season went on in Columbia, Okot started expanding her range more and more, finishing 13-of-29 (44.8%) on the season.
At least a part of that has to do with Smesko, as Dawn Staley called him up this year for shooting tips that she could share with her team. In turn, Smesko got a preview of Okot and liked what he saw.
“I ran into Dawn Staley in Fort Myers. She was down there to play a game, and I watched (Okot) practice,” Smesko said. “Madina was really high on our list already, and for us, it was just a matter of whether she was going to get another year of eligibility or not. When she didn’t get that extra year, we were hoping that she would be there, and we just feel really fortunate that she was.”
Okot played a season for Mississippi State in 2024-25 before transferring to South Carolina. She petitioned for an extra season of eligibility but was denied. She only began playing basketball in 2020, and reflected on her journey after hearing her name called.
“I didn’t see myself being here today six years ago,” Okot said to Holly Rowe during the draft.
It’s something that Padover touched on, too.
“She just started playing basketball pretty recently, so we’re just starting to see what she can do,” he said. “I think the ceiling is very far away from where she’s at now.”
Later in the draft, the Dream selected Indya Nivar, a guard out of North Carolina, with the No. 28 overall pick. They finished up their draft by selecting guard Kejia Ran out of China with the No. 43 overall pick.
After losing Maya Caldwell, a Smesko favorite in 2025, to Portland in the expansion draft, Nivar could play her way into that role.
“That’s something we like about her, is her ability to make plays. She has a knack for the ball,” Smesko said about Nivar, who had 94 seals in her senior season at Chapel Hill. “We were excited that she was available in the second round, and we’re looking forward to seeing her compete against our team that we’re going to have in training camp.”