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After a fascinating offseason in Atlanta, so much of the discussion about the Dream focused on their new additions. How would Karl Smesko's system translate to the WNBA? And how would free agent signings Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones -- two traditional paint presences -- fit with what he wanted to do on the offensive end?

Those were valid questions, but they meant that the Dream's returners largely got overlooked. There wasn't much talk about how Smesko could help elevate those already in town. After the first few weeks of the season, it's clear there should have been. 

Allisha Gray, in particular, is thriving. While Gray has been named an All-Star in each of the last two seasons, and won both the 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge at All-Star Weekend last year in Phoenix, she's always flown under the radar, especially on a national level. That won't remain the case much longer. 

Against the Seattle Storm, she poured in a career-high 28 points to lead a 17-point comeback that extended the Dream's winning streak to four games -- their longest since 2023 -- and improved their record to 5-2 on the season. As the calendar flips to June, only the reigning champion New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx are ahead of the Dream in the standings. 

Through seven games, Gray is averaging 21.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists on 49.5/43.5/81.6 shooting splits. She's on pace to set new career-highs in scoring, assists, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, and has only turned the ball over nine times. 

The Dream haven't had a winning season since 2018, but if Gray keeps playing like this, that streak should come to an end this summer. 

Here are CBS Sports' latest WNBA Power Rankings:

WNBA Power Rankings
1
Liberty
Four games in six days, four wins for the Liberty, who keep rolling right along. Their 48-point win over the Sun was the second-largest margin of victory in league history, and moved them to 7-0 for the first time since 1997 -- the league's inaugural season. If you only counted the Liberty's 20-point wins thus far, they'd have more victories (four) than eight of the other 12 teams.
2
Lynx
The Lynx have been living on the edge, but keep finding ways to maintain their perfect start to the season. Natisha Hiedeman's game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to complete a comeback win over the Mercury was the closest they've come to dropping a game yet. They played that night without Napheesa Collier, who sat due to a knee issue she's been battling since 2023. Cheryl Reeve said it was precautionary, but that will be something to keep an eye on moving forward.
3
Mercury
There were a lot of questions about this Mercury experiment heading into the season, especially after Kahleah Copper underwent knee surgery just before their first game. It appears that general manager Nick U'ren and coach Nate Tibbetts knew what they were doing, however, as the Mercury are off to a 5-2 start thanks in large part to a supporting cast filled with players most fans had never heard of.
4
Dream
The Dream have won four in a row, and while you could have pointed to the schedule early in that win streak, their comeback victory on the road against the Storm was extremely impressive. Allisha Gray had a career-high 28 points in that win in Seattle, and has excelled in new coach Karl Smesko's system. She's averaging 21.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists, and is on pace for new career-highs in scoring and assists.
5
Aces
The Aces had five days off after getting embarrassed by the Storm, and put that time to good use. Going back to Seattle and taking care of business on Sunday was their best win thus far. A'ja Wilson is leading the league in blocks per game at 2.7, and tied for second in steals at 2.3. If she can keep that up, she will become the first player ever to average at least five stocks (steals plus blocks) for a season.
6
Storm
The Storm's roller coaster start to the season continued this week with a three-game losing streak to drop the team back under .500. The three defeats came by a combined 17 points against quality competition, so it wasn't a disastrous stretch, but it was a bit disappointing after their three-game winning streak last week. Especially considering they blew a 17-point lead to the Dream in one of the losses.
7
Mystics
Pop quiz: Can you name which player is leading the league in free throw attempts per game? If you guessed Brittney Sykes, congratulations. Sykes, who has never averaged more than 3.8 free throws per game, is getting to the line 11.2 times a night this season. As a result, she's fourth in the league in scoring at a career-high 21.7 points despite shooting a career-worst 34% from the field.
8
Fever
Caitlin Clark's absence has proven to be an even bigger issue than everyone expected. Losing to the Mystics was one thing, but falling to the previously winless Sun was a real shocker. Kelsey Mitchell has only scored 27 points on 8 of 31 shooting without Clark in the lineup, and the Fever need her to be better. One bit of good news for the Fever is that neither Sydney Colson nor Sophie Cunningham have suffered long-term injuries after going down against the Sun.
9
Sky
The Sky are finally on the board after back-to-back wins over the Wings. During their three games this week, Ariel Atkins averaged 21.3 points, five rebounds, 3.7 assists and two steals on 51.2% shooting. This is the player they gave up the No. 3 pick (Sonia Citron) and a 2027 first-round swap to acquire. Atkins took 20 shots in their first three games combined; she had at least 14 in all three games this week.
10
Valkyries
The schedule makers did the Valkyries no favors this week. Two games in New York against the reigning champion Liberty, then a cross-country flight to host the Lynx is about as rough of a stretch as any team will have this season. While the Valkyries generally acquitted themselves well, they lost all three due to a continued lack of offense. They've only reached the 80-point mark once all season and are now first in 3-point attempts per game (33.3) and last in 3-point percentage (27.5).
11
Sparks
Blowing an 18-point lead to the Mercury was a brutal way for the Sparks to end a frustrating week. The season is barely two weeks old, and they've already had multiple three-game losing streaks. To make matters worse, there's a lot of noise on social media about Rickea Jackson, who is currently taking "personal time" away from the team. It's probably good for the Sparks that they only play once next week and will have some time to regroup.
12
Wings
Paige Bueckers became the first rookie to have a 20/5/5 game on 80% shooting or better since 2005 in the Wings' first win of the season over the Sun. In the days since then, the Wings lost twice more to fall to 1-6, which is tied for the worst record in the league, and Bueckers entered the concussion protocol. It's only been two weeks, but this season is quickly spinning out of control for the Wings.
13
Sun
The Sun's surprise victory in Indianapolis ensured that there will be no winless teams in the WNBA this season, but they had little time to celebrate. Less than 48 hours later, they lost by 48 points to the Liberty in what was the second-largest margin of defeat in league history. Four of the Sun's six losses have now come by at least 20 points.