Rhyne Howard (born April 29, 2000) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the Atlanta Dream of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA) and for

Vinyl BC Vinyl Basketball Club, also known as Vinyl BC, is an American professional basketball team. They are a member of the Unrivaled basketball league, and made their debut in 2025. The teams are based in Miami, Florida and Vinyl is led by coach Teres ...

of Unrivaled (basketball). She played college basketball for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

. She graduated from Bradley Central High School in

Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of, and largest city in, Bradley County, Tennessee. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...

, in 2018. She was drafted first overall by the Dream in the

2022 WNBA draft The 2022 WNBA Draft, the WNBA's draft for the 2022 WNBA season, was held on April 11, 2022, in New York City and aired live on WNBA on ESPN, ESPN in the United States and on The Sports Network, TSN1/4 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, EDT ...

. In her senior year of high school at Bradley Central, she was named 2018 Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year and Tennessee Miss Basketball. Howard participated on the USA team in 2018 and 2019, leading them to a gold medal and was awarded MVP honors in 2018. She participated in the Jordan Brand Classic among the top rated recruits in the U.S. Following her freshman season at Kentucky, Howard was named USBWA National Freshman of the Year. In 2020 and 2021, she was named SEC Player of the Year.

College career

Howard notched SEC player of the year in 2020 and 2021, her sophomore and junior years at UK. She also earned All-SEC defensive team and All-SEC first team honors in 2021. In her freshman year, she earned the honors of All-SEC first team and SEC freshman of the year. Entering the Wildcats' 2021 postseason, Howard is the only player in the nation averaging 19 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game, while snatching 40 steals and 70 assists. On January 9, 2020, Howard recorded 43 points during a road game visiting the Alabama Crimson Tide. This performance tied the record for most points scored in a single game for a Kentucky women's player. This record was first accomplished by Jennifer O'Neill in 2013. On January 27, 2022, Howard scored her 2,000th point in her college career, becoming the third Wildcat to reach that benchmark.

Professional career

WNBA

On April 11, 2022, Howard was drafted first overall by the Atlanta Dream in the

. During her rookie year Rhyne started every game and averaged 16.8 points, 2.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. Howard was announced to her first All-star game in July. She went on to earn Rookie of the month honors every month from May to August. Howard would later be announced as the WNBA Rookie of the Year for 2022.

Unrivaled

On July 16, 2024, it was announced that Howard would appear and play in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a new women's 3-on-3 basketball league founded by

Napheesa Collier Napheesa Collier ( ; born September 23, 1996), nicknamed "Phee", is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Collier is also a founder of the Unrivaled (basketball le ...

and Breanna Stewart.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

''Stats current through end of 2024 season'' , - , align="left" ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 34 , , 34 , , 31.4 , , .361 , , .343 , , .792 , , 4.5 , , 2.8 , , 1.6 , , 0.8 , , 1.6 , , 16.2 , - , align="left" ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, align="left" ,

, 39 , , 39 , , 32.9 , , .385 , , .352 , , .788 , , 4.9 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 1.9 , , 17.5 , - , align="left" ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, align="left" ,

, 30 , , 29 , , 33.9 , , .371 , , .329 , , .784 , , 4.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 1.7 , , 17.3 , - class="sortbottom" , rowspan=2 align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 1 team , 103 , , 102 , , 32.7 , , .373 , , .342 , , .788 , , 4.6 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , 0.7 , , 1.7 , , 17.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;", All-Star , 2 , , 0 , , 15.3 , , .417 , , .350 , , 1.000 , , 4.0 , , 3.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 14.5

Playoffs

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 2 , , 2 , , 37.5 , , .431 , , .458 , , .667 , , 3.5 , , 2.0 , , style="background:#d3d3d3;", 2.0° , , 0.5 , , 2.0 , , style="background:#d3d3d3;", 28.5° , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 2 , , 2 , , 34.5 , , .448 , , .231 , , .500 , , 5.5 , , 3.5 , , 2.5 , , style="background:#d3d3d3;", 2.5° , , 1.0 , , 16.5 , - class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 2 years, 1 team , 4 , , 4 , , 36.0 , , .438 , , .378 , , .545 , , 4.5 , , 2.8 , , 2.3 , , 1.5 , , 1.5 , , 22.5

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, 32 , , 31 , , 30.9 , , .445 , , .387 , , .676 , , 5.1 , , 2.3 , , 2.1 , , 0.7 , , 2.4 , , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 27 , , 27 , , 31.2 , , .433 , , .382 , , .791 , , 6.5 , , 2.4 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 2.2 , , 23.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 24 , , 24 , , 34.8 , , .444 , , .373 , , .779 , , 7.3 , , 3.8 , , 2.5 , , 0.8 , , 2.1 , , 20.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 31 , , 31 , , 35.3 , , .441 , , .383 , , .808 , , 7.4 , , 3.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 1.8 , , 20.5 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 114 , , 113 , , 33.0 , , .440 , , .382 , , .772 , , 6.9 , , 2.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 2.2 , , 20.1

Coaching career

Howard was hired as an assistant coach and director of player personnel at

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 2023.

Personal life

Howard is a member of

Zeta Phi Beta Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achi ...

sorority. She was initiated through the Iota Mu chapter at the University of Kentucky.seniorclassaward.com
/ref>

References

External links

*
Kentucky Wildcats bio
* * * *
Rhyne Howard
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

(archived
alternate link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Rhyne 2000 births Living people 3x3 basketball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics All-American college women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Atlanta Dream players American women's basketball players Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Sportspeople from Cleveland, Tennessee Shooting guards Basketball players from Chattanooga, Tennessee United States women's national basketball team players WNBA All-Stars First overall WNBA draft picks Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in 3x3 basketball Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Unrivaled basketball players 21st-century American sportswomen