On June 23, 2020, Tiffany Hayes decided to sit out of the 2020 WNBA season for personal reasons. The veteran guard of the Atlanta Dream made the announcement via Instagram.
She is joining teammate Renee Montgomery, another former player for UConn, who has decided to forgo the 2020 WNBA season to aid in the fight for social reform.
How Tiffany Hayes Stepped up for the Dream in the 2019 Season
During the 2019 season, Tiffany Hayes appeared in 29 games for the Dream as a starter. She recorded 14.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.8 APG throughout the season. In the Dream’s final three games of the regular season, she had to sit out due to knee injury. She reached 3,000 career points vs. Indiana on June 19 as she collected 28 points, a then-season-high for the Dream. On August 10, 2019, Hayes set a career-high in points with 34 in a road loss to Indiana.
Hayes will be missed for the Dream fans, and I, at this moment, support her decision to sit out the 2020 WNBA Season. She has done a lot to this franchise since being drafted 14th overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft. In her college career with UConn, she won two back-to-back national titles and four trips to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament. She led the Dream to a finals appearance in 2013 and a franchise-best 23-11 record in the 2018 season, averaging 17.2 PPG.
The Dream’s Struggles in the 2019 Season
Angel McCoughtry was dearly missed for the Dream fans as she continued to rehab from the ACL injury she suffered during the 2018 season. The Atlanta Dream finished the season with an 8-26 record, worst in the WNBA, after a spectacular season in 2018. In the 2019 season, the Dream had a 12-game losing streak from July 14 to August 20. They also got eliminated from the playoffs after a loss to Chicago for the first time since 2017. By the end of the season, they entered the draft lottery for the 2020 WNBA Draft. They got the fourth overall pick to select Chennedy Carter from Texas A&M.
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