ATLANTA ― At 5-foot-6, Atlanta Dream guard Jordin Canada is usually the smallest player on the court. Still, her game is infinitely larger than her stature and soft-spoken demeanor.
Drafted by the Seattle Storm in 2018 with the fifth overall pick, she learned from Hall of Famer Sue Bird and other top-notch players like Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart. Canada won two championships with Seattle (2018, 2020) in four seasons before moving on to the Los Angeles Sparks for two seasons. During her Storm and Sparks tenures, the former UCLA product earned WNBA first-team All-Defense twice (2019, 2023) and led the league in steals twice (2019, 2023).
After her stint in Los Angeles, Canada signed with the Dream. The Dream guard played 20 games in 2024 and
28 contests in 2025 as she battled injuries. During the offseason, she made it her mission to not only get healthy, but to play the best basketball of her career. It couldn't have happened at a better time. With Canada's leadership, Atlanta swept Washington in the first round of the playoffs and is up 2-0 on New York after an overtime thriller, with the WNBA Finals within sight.
"Jordin's really confident right now. Not to say that she isn't always, but I think she's seeing her work be put on display, and she's being rewarded for it," Dream forward Naz Hillmon said. "... I feel like she's always impacting, even if she doesn't have a double-digit scoring outing. Like, that she's responsible for X amount of points, and then I think her defense.
"She's always been known for her defense, but she's taking it up a notch, using (coach Karl Smesko's) technique methods and putting it all together."
Jordin Canada turned it up in WNBA postseason
During the 2026 regular season, Canada averaged 11.6 points on a career-high 43.1% shooting and 7.3 assists, which ranked third in the league behind Alyssa Thomas and Caitlin Clark. Canada was also second in the league behind teammate Rhyne Howard for the most steals per game (1.9). She also had seven games with a points and assists double-double and nine games with at least 10-plus assists.
In the postseason, her game has only elevated. Canada had two points and assists double-doubles against the Mystics and has been stuffing the stat sheet against the Liberty. In Game 1, she had 25 points on 64% shooting, four assists, five steals and a block. Canada became the sixth player in WNBA postseason history to record 25-plus points and five-plus steals in a game. In Game 2, it was more of the same with 23 points on 60% shooting, eight assists, five rebounds and a steal.
Canada rarely speaks about any of her accomplishments. She'll smile quietly if you bring up a feat related to her, or she won't say anything at all, often nodding before crediting the work she puts in.
"I just try to read the game. I let the game come to me. Sometimes, there's games where it's called for me to be more aggressive and scoring first and looking for my teammates, and then there's times where I need to look for my teammates, and then, I'll turn it up a little bit," Canada said.
"I know that I am a great facilitator. I know one of my strengths is getting into the paint and creating for my teammates. So I just try to do that consistently throughout the game, and then just see how it plays out ... I love passing the ball. That's just the player in me."
Canada is everywhere when you turn on the film. Blink. She just scored an impossible basket while acrobatically falling backwards, securing an and-1 opportunity. Blink again. She picked the pockets of an unsuspecting defender and took it the other way down the court, with speed that almost defies logic. If you manage to blink a third time, you'll miss the 3-pointers where she appears to lift herself off the ground and into the conversation for the league's most underrated guards.
For her career, Canada averages 26% from beyond the arc. During the 2026 regular season, she hovered around 29%, but in the WNBA playoffs, she's shooting a career-high 48% from deep. She is also averaging a postseason career-high 2.8 steals per contest. "She's a thief in the night," her teammates will jokingly say, but something changed when the calendar hit the postseason, and the Dream noticed.
JORDIN CANADA, THE PLAYER YOU ARE OMG pic.twitter.com/rPI6MjnR0Z
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) October 4, 2026
"That (Oct. 4 semifinal) game (against the Liberty) was the first time I’ve ever seen her that excited. She said some words that I had never heard her say before … She was lit,” Atlanta forward Angel Reese said. “She’s unguardable. She’s so fast and quick and at her size, to be so fearless and go inside a lot of the time, I wouldn’t do that probably if I was that small, but she’s just super confident.”
Taking the Dream to a championship
Canada has made it clear: the Dream are a championship team. She says it doesn't matter what anyone on the outside of the locker room says about their chances to win a title. According to Canada, Atlanta knows what it's capable of. Now, just one win stands between the Dream and the highest stage in the WNBA.
"We're just rolling her wave. She just brings all the energy. She's the head of the snake on defense and offense. So when she gets going, it gets everyone else going," Dream forward DeWanna Bonner said. "I'm just super proud of her, and I'm excited to see what she's gonna do the rest of the series. We know it's a long way, but we go as (Jordin Canada) go."
On Friday, they have a chance to punch their ticket to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013. The Liberty seek to avoid that as they host Atlanta in Game 3 of their semifinals matchup (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). In 2013, Atlanta was swept by Minnesota (3-0) in the Finals, but Canada and the Dream are hoping to change that.
“It's maturity. We talk about it in the locker room, and honestly, from training camp. Our two main focuses (are) managing our emotions and valuing possessions more, and I think over time through the season you've seen that the second half of our season," Canada said following a 101-98 overtime win in Game 2.
"And even though we went into overtime, I thought we did an excellent job of our defensive schemes and getting a bucket when we needed to, honestly. … We've been harping on it every single day, and so you're starting to see that come into fruition. And you know, we want to keep doing that as much as we can.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jordin Canada’s playoff takeover has the Dream knocking on the Finals door
