Renee Montgomery Announces Retirement

Montgomery played 11 seasons in WNBA, including two with Dream

ATLANTA – Eleven-year veteran guard Renee Montgomery announced her retirement from the WNBA today.

“I bought a home in Georgia nine years ago and I retired as a member of the Atlanta Dream,” Montgomery said. “I’ve always known I wanted to be here and now I feel intertwined in the Atlanta fabric and culture. Blessed to call this home. True to Atlanta.”

Montgomery, who sat out the 2020 WNBA season to focus her attention on the social justice movement, played with the Atlanta Dream during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. She helped lead the 2018 team to a franchise-record 23 regular season wins and one game away from reaching the WNBA Finals.

“Renee will always have a special place in my heart because she was the very first player to say yes to me as a head coach,” Dream Head Coach Nicki Collen said. “Her energy, enthusiasm and leadership helped transform the Dream along with her 3-point shot.  She prepared the right way and never cheated the game.  It is that same work ethic and enthusiasm that will make her a success in everything she does.  She bet on herself in the middle of a pandemic and has thrived.  I wish her nothing but success in retirement.”

Drafted out of UConn with the fourth overall in the 2009 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx, Montgomery would go on to play 364 games for the Lynx, Connecticut, Seattle and the Dream. She scored 3,534 points and dished out 1,140 assists over her 11-year career. Montgomery’s 532 career three-pointers made ranks 12th all-time in WNBA history.

“I have known Renee for many years and with two different franchises,” Dream President & General Manager Chris Sienko said. “She has excelled as an athlete but has really hit her stride as an advocate for those in need and for our under-served communities. She has become a powerful voice of change and her opportunities outside of basketball are limitless – we wish her the best!”

Montgomery, a West Virginia native, won two WNBA Championships as a member of the Lynx in 2015 and 2017.