There was a sequence at Core 4 in Chamblee, Ga., the home of the Atlanta Dream’s training facility where Madina Okot showed why the Dream drafted her in the first round.
The next sequence down the court, though, Okot grabbed an offensive rebound and instead of going up strong for an easy layup, she pulled the ball out.
The highs and lows are going to happen with a player like Okot throughout her rookie season. See, it’s important to remember that she only started playing basketball six years ago.
Now, she’s playing 10 minutes per night for the Atlanta Dream as one of the first two players off of the bench.
It’s not a trial by fire, per se, but it’s more like a baptism by fire.
“When you’re playing WNBA games, you need to produce when you’re out there, and she has when she’s given the opportunity,” Smesko told The IX Sports about developing Okot in real time during the season. “I just think she has so much talent that you know some of the learning is going to happen on the floor during the games, and we’ll have some moments of just like, ‘wow, we can’t believe how good she can become.’”
What Smesko said is a common thought around the Dream. They feel that the sky truly is the limit for her. While she can become really good, there’s an overwhelming thought within the team’s front office and roster that Okot is already really good.
She just doesn’t recognize it.
After a recent game against the Washington Mystics, Okot was asked about a shot that she made from the corner.
She paused, looked at Angel Reese, and said “Did I make that?”
“See? She doesn’t know how good she is,” Reese said. “This is what I’m talking about.”
Her teammates would know better than anyone whether or not Okot knows how good she is or not, but even if she did, the public wouldn’t know it.
Okot is reserved. Quiet, even.
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She isn’t just developing as a basketball player, but also as a professional off of the court.
Division 1 basketball players aren’t required to do media press conferences outside of NCAA Tournaments. With Okot, that’s an area that she’s working on.
For instance, after the Dream’s home opener against the Las Vegas Aces at State Farm Arena, a game in which Okot recorded a double-double, she and Te-Hina Paopao went to the podium for nearly 10 minutes after the game.
Midway through the media session, the players were asked a question about their takeaways from playing in front of the crowd of 17,000-plus.
Paopao looked over to her left and said “you take this one. I’ve been talking for a minute.”
It’s been an adjustment for her when it comes to the media. After one question, she asked the reporter to repeat the question because she wasn’t paying attention.
Throughout the season, though, you can see the focus shift. She’ll give insightful, thoughtful answers, but there are still nerves there.
“Honestly, I’m never going to adjust to this,” Okot told six media members in a pre-game scrum about speaking to the media. “It’s not easy, but I’m doing it.”
Okot left the session saying “You guys had too much time. Next time, we’ll keep it to a couple of minutes.”
As soon as she said the final word, she flashed a smile letting us know she was joking. That she was feeling her way through it.
That she’s trying and extending a branch.
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Not only is Okot green as a player and as a professional, but she’s also dealing with being far away from home. She’s from Mumias, Kenya, which has a population of 44,434.
Before coming over to the United States and enrolling at Mississippi State, she played for Kenya’s national 3×3 team.
When she was drafted by the Dream out of South Carolina, Atlanta became her new home. With it being just shy of 7,900 miles from Mumias, Okot is turning to her teammates to help her adjust to life in the United States as a professional basketball player.
“I feel like this is my family away from home,” Okot said of her teammates. “I’m miles away from home, and I just like the fact that they make it almost feel like I don’t miss home or I don’t miss my family. They are so nice to me, they’re treating me the way I want.”
There’s one player specifically who Okot is leaning on more than others.
Enter Reese, who the Dream acquired in the offseason from the Chicago Sky.
Since the first day of training camp, Reese has said that she almost feels like a veteran now in her third year, and part of what she wants to do is take players under her wing.
There’s no player who has taken her up on that like Okot has.
“Angel’s been sort of a mentor to me,” Okot said. “She’s there for me. I knew she was gonna be there for me. I mean, she’s a good person, and I love being around her. She’s not going to let me struggle with anything on and off court. She’s willing to help me, and she makes my life so easy. She’s like a big sister to me.”
That love was evident during the aforementioned postgame press conference when Okot and Reese were at the podium.
They had playful banter back and forth, with both of them lobbing praises to the other.
At one point, Okot was handed a towel because she was sweating.
“Y’all got her nervous,” Reese said. “Chill on my girl.”
Then Okot dropped a line not into the microphone, but to her teammate. Her mentor.
“I’m never nervous when I’m around you,” Okot said.
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That’s her vet.
That’s who has helped Okot grow as a player and as a professional.
“Madina’s been around Angel a lot. They are really close,” Allisha Gray said about the two bigs. “That’s a great role model for her to have because she can teach her how to be a pro. I think Medina is a great rookie for Angel to have.”
Reese loves to talk about basketball. She loves to talk about playing under Smesko and coming to Atlanta. But when she’s asked about Okot, she’s always extra locked in for the question before she gives her praise of the rookie.
“I tell her to dominate every game. Everyone in front of you is not your friend. You have to think of them as an enemy,” Reese said. “You have to punish everyone in front of you. You’re one of the biggest players in the league and one of the youngest players in the league. I always tell her ‘I don’t think you know how good you are.’ I’m just instilling confidence in her. We talk a lot. I’m here for her.”
She’s Reese’s rookie, and Reese knows more than most that rookie seasons can be hard from learning the game on the court and dealing with outside noise.
She heaps praise upon Okot, saying that she’s like a sponge on and off of the court.
“I think she’s been a sponge and always been willing to learn and figure things out, and been thrown out there with some of the best early on, but I think she continues to thrive,” Reese said. “I think she’s young, she’s raw, but …”
“I’m grown up. I’m 21,” Okot said, cutting Reese off.
“OK, she’s a grown up, she’s a grown up, but I think she continues to grow, continues to learn, and I love Medina,” Reese said after an eye-roll at Okot’s comment. “I think she’s just a great teammate, she’s fun, she brings a lot of energy that you guys don’t see, and I think the sky is the limit.”
Okot was playful, adding that she knows she’s been thrown in and playing with the best players. When she said it, though, she was speaking of her teammates.
“I would say I’m around the greatest people, I’m around the greatest player, inspired by Angel, and yeah, I’m learning from the greatest,” Okot said. “I just want to go out there and do the most that I can from my opportunities.”
She’s shown that in her play when she’s had to go up against the very best who aren’t her teammates. She had a double-double against the Aces and against A’ja Wilson – a player that Okot is very familiar with.
“I think it’s just basketball at the end of the day, it’s just basketball, but yeah, it’s great to be out there to play against players that I’ve been watching growing up, or wanting to be like them growing up,” Okot said of her matchup with Wilson. “We were opponents, but when you look at the game, or when you look at how we were interacting, it was such a great moment for me.”
One person who was locked into that Aces and Dream game was South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.
Staley had conversations with Smesko about Okot when the Gamecocks were in Florida during the late fall.
“I ran into Dawn Staley in Fort Myers. She was down there to play a game, and I watched (Okot) practice,” Smesko told The IX Sports. “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.”
Staley, who was hoping that Okot would return to South Carolina for another season, thinks that she landed in the right system to develop her and get the most out of her in the short- and long-term.
“He’s done a great job playing his style of play. He makes some adjustments to have his system fit the pros,” Staley told The IX Sports. “His style of play fits with the draft picks that he chooses. The fact that Okot can play down low and outside the three is very valuable for them and their system. He’s bringing her along slowly as a youngster, but he’s building her confidence.”
Staley is always watching her South Carolina graduates when they reach the WNBA. When one of her players is drafted, she’ll reach out to former Gamecocks to “make sure that they take care of them.”
Paopao wasn’t one of those players, but she’s helping Okot come along as a fellow Gamecock.
“[Dawn] didn’t reach out to me, but as a Gamecock, I should have done that first,” Paopao said, with a laugh. “When I first got drafted last year, I know that it was a lot of overwhelming stuff, so I didn’t want to overwhelm her even more. I have to do a better job at that. It’s going to be scary once she gets comfortable.”
And that’s where it falls to Smesko. He’s doing a balancing act with having Okot play a big role for the Dream – especially while Brionna Jones, who has been doing on-court sprints – remains out.
She’s a young player, whose ceiling is through the roof.
“She’s so good right now, but she has so much potential. I think she has the ability to be one of the best players in the league,” Smesko said. “I mean, she’s just physical, she’s strong, she has skills, and she’s still learning the game.”
He sees it. General Manager Dan Padover sees it. Gray sees it. Reese sees it. Staley sees it. Paopao sees it.
All that’s left is for Okot to see it.
When that happens, look out, league.
