Maya Caldwell is right where she’s meant to be — and she’s proving it with the Dream

The Atlanta Dream guard carries herself with a quiet certainty. She’ll quickly tell you the real work happens in her daily deposits of prayer, long before she buries a clutch wing three, creates timely deflections on passes or leaps in the air to snatch a rebound off the glass. The moments on the court excite her, but prayer keeps the 5’11 guard grounded. 

It’s been three weeks since she earned her fourth start of the season on July 13, during Atlanta’s 79–72 road loss to the New York Liberty. It marked game two of the Dream’s grueling six-game road trip. Caldwell stepped in for three-time All-Star Rhyne Howard, who suffered a knee injury in the Dream’s loss to the Indiana Fever on July 11. 

Before that, the 26-year-old had started only three games, all in late May, while Jordin Canada recovered from knee injuries. Up until the Dream’s contest against the Liberty, Caldwell averaged 11.7 minutes per contest in 15 games off the bench and three as a starter. The irony, though, is that Caldwell knows this rhythm well. The minutes rise and fall. The role shifts. The uncertainty sticks around.

“I’ve been so back and forth with starting or just coming off the bench in my career that it doesn’t really matter,” a resting Caldwell told The Next after morning shootaround on Friday, ahead of the Dream’s game against the Phoenix Mercury. “It’s a little bit easier to get into my flow starting than it is to come off the bench. When you come off the bench, you’re in higher demand. … You don’t have time to get warmed up or to get loose.”

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The Fever drafted the former third-round pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft and then cut her a week into training camp. A year later, Atlanta brought her in on a training camp deal during the offseason, only to waive her in May. But by June 2022, Caldwell was back, this time on a hardship contract. She made the most of it, averaging 23.7 minutes over nine games.

In 2023, Caldwell played 30 games for the Fever, starting just once and averaging 10.1 minutes. Then came another twist. The Dream re-signed her in June 2024. This time, she played 25 games, cracked the starting lineup six times and averaged 16.2 minutes as the franchise was decimated with injuries.

On Sunday, as Caldwell steps to center court for her 12th start of the season in her 27th game overall, she’ll do more than just check into the lineup. She’ll add another moment to the quiet faith that’s carried her. She’s living in her blessing, one built on grit, sacrifice and relentless faith in God. 

The Dream (17–11) face the Mystics (13–14) at Gateway Center Arena, and Caldwell — normally a steady reserve for Atlanta — believes God placing her in Atlanta was part of his divine plan and one that was right on time.

“Every time you ask God for something, you’re not sure what’s in his will,” Caldwell told The Next. “When you’re in and out of the league, it’s easy for your confidence to go up and down. It’s like, ‘Cool, I’m great [at basketball]. Then, you go home [after being cut or on a contract], you’re like, am I not good enough?’ … I’ve been able to prove to myself that this is where God wants me to be. I’m living in a blessing right now.”

Inside a packed GCA, Atlanta finds itself trailing Phoenix 15-9 within the first four minutes of Friday’s contest. With Howard sidelined and Brittney Griner out with a neck injury, Dream head coach Karl Smesko stands in front of the Dream’s bench, arms folded, eyes locked on the floor. Calm. Focused. Waiting.

He’s looking for someone to shift the momentum, to step up, hit a few shots and stop the bleeding before the game slips away. Caldwell is ready. 

As Canada pushes the pace, she threads a perfect pass to Caldwell in stride. Catch. Release. Splash. It’s the first of four threes Caldwell would knock down in the opening frame. A few possessions later, Canada’s layup rims out, but Naz Hillmon snatches the offensive board and fires it back out. Caldwell is waiting. Another clean look, another three.

She’s locked in.

With the game tied at 15, Caldwell’s back-to-back triples ignited an 11–0 run, capped by another trey ball from Allisha Gray that forced Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts to call a timeout to regroup. By the end of the opening quarter, the Dream had dropped 34 points and tied a franchise record for the most threes (eight) in a single period.

The Dream took control early and never looked back, cruising to a 95–72 rout of the Mercury. Caldwell posted a season-high 14 points and grabbed a career-best seven rebounds, an effort that few notice but one she takes deep pride in.

“Whenever I get a chance to just fly in there and grab a rebound, I’m gonna do it,” Caldwell said postgame. “That’s probably one of my favorite parts of the game.”

It’s exactly why head coach Karl Smesko loves what Caldwell brings to the floor. She finds ways to impact the game on both ends of the floor and never needs the spotlight to do it.

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The Charlotte, N.C., native is averaging 4.7 points, 2.5 rebounds (a career high), 1.6 assists and 1.8 made field goals per game while shooting 38.8% from the field and 31.3% from deep in just 16.3 minutes per contest. After Atlanta’s dominant win over Phoenix, Caldwell now has four double-digit scoring games this season. Three of those four games have come in just the last eight contests.

And the numbers keep trending upward. Over that eight-game stretch, Caldwell has consistently finished in the positive on the plus-minus chart, averaging a +6.3. She’s also averaging 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and shooting a sharp 45.5% from the field and 42.4% from three in a whopping 26.7 minutes per game.

“The last few games she’s [Caldwell] been playing amazing,” said Dream forward Brionna Jones, who registered her 19th double-figure scoring outing and eclipsed 1,000 made field goals in her career on Friday. I see her every day getting shots up. She’s definitely came in ready.”

Entering Sunday, the Dream sit solely in third place in the WNBA standings and 6.5 games out of first place behind the Liberty (17-10) and the Minnesota Lynx (24-5). With Howard’s absence, Caldwell’s production becomes even more important to the Dream’s consistency and success to remain among the league’s top five teams, along with other bench contributions from veterans Hillmon, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, Nia Coffey and rookie Te-Hina Paopao. 

“You’re never going to replace everything that Rhyne [Howard] can do on the floor,” Smesko said. “But I think [Caldwell] and [Shatori Walker-Kimbrough] have really combined to help and given us production and competing on the defensive end.”

Caldwell knows exactly who Howard is: an All-Star, a franchise cornerstone and one of the league’s most dynamic talents. Howard is averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.6 steals and nearly a block per game.

But Caldwell isn’t trying to be the next Howard. Instead, she’s carving her own lane while looking to the All-Star not for comparison but for “advice and guidance.”

“I’m stepping into her spot [right now],” Caldwell said. “But, I’m not trying to be Rhyne [Howard]. Nobody can. She’s her own player. I’ll be quick sometimes to ask her about a play on offense, like ‘If I stand in the corner, what am I doing because sometimes it gets loud in the arena and you can’t hear everything. … She carries huge shoes for this team.”

But when the crowd gets loud inside GCA, Caldwell stays steady, calm, confident and more grounded than ever. After the Dream’s victory against the Wings on May 24, she didn’t talk about points or minutes. Instead, she gave credit where she always does, thanking God for answering her prayer to play in A-Town and to stay close to home.

Caldwell’s confidence shows up before she even speaks.

It’s rooted in something deeper now, a stronger belief in herself, shaped by the wisdom of her father, the support of her fiancée and guidance from team psychologist Dr. Kensa Gunter. Most of all, it’s anchored by an unshakable faith in God.

She’s still on the journey and still navigating her purpose. But she never forgets what it took to get here.

The highs. The setbacks. The waiting. She carries it all and lets it fuel the dream she’s living.

“It’s tough mentally to get up, go live your dream for a couple games and then it gets shut off real quick,” Caldwell told The Next. “There’s nothing I would trade for this experience in Atlanta. … Invest in yourself. … If you want the dream to happen, keep chasing it. That’s what I did. Pray harder than you work, and it’ll happen. God definitely fulfills His promises, and this is where I want to be.”