Renee Montgomery has been through a lot in Minnesota during her WNBA career.
In 2009, Montgomery was selected by the Lynx with the No. 4 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. She spent a season in Minnesota until she was traded to Connecticut in exchange for Lindsay Whalen.
In the middle of the 2015 season, Montgomery was traded back to Minnesota, where she spent the next two-and-a-half years. During that span, she helped the Lynx win WNBA titles in 2015 and 2017.
This past offseason, as she entered free agency following winning her second championship in three seasons, Montgomery was faced with a tough decision.
Did she want to want to remain in Minnesota with the Lynx, a place and organization she has been through a lot with and has grown into somewhat of a home away from home? Or did she want to go elsewhere, maybe closer to her family and friends?
Montgomery ultimately chose the latter, leaving Minnesota to sign with the Atlanta Dream right as the free agency signing period began.
Montgomery, a West Virginia native, now plays about 500 miles away from her hometown, rather than the near-900 miles away in Minneapolis.
“The biggest draw for me was coming back east and seeing my family,” Montgomery told Zone Coverage. “It was hard leaving Minnesota because of all the connections I made there.”
On Tuesday, her old team will travel to take on her new team for the first time this season at 6 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta. But Montgomery’s not thinking too much into it.
“You always like to say treat it like another game, and it really is for me. It will be nice to see some old teammates,” Montgomery said. “As a team, Minnesota is one of the best teams in the league, the defending champs, so we will have our work cut out for us.”
A spark plug coming off the bench the last few years in Minnesota, Montgomery has embraced a new and bigger challenge as the starting point guard with the Dream in 2018. Entering Tuesday’s game, Montgomery is averaging 9.3 points, 3.3 assists, two rebounds and 1.3 steals in 25 minutes per contest.
“Things are going well,” Montgomery said. “It’s still early, but I feel like the chemistry is coming along. We are getting in the flow and learning how to play with each other, but I think our chemistry is really coming along.”
Montgomery said her time in Minnesota was special and stays in contact with a few people in the Lynx organization, including Whalen who she backed up the last few seasons.
She also admitted that she can’t wait to receive her 2017 championship ring when the Dream come to Target Center on June 29, adding that will be “a really special moment” for the guard.
But before that moment can happen, Montgomery and the Dream must get past Tuesday’s game against Minnesota, a team she has been through a lot with.
“My biggest takeaway from Minnesota was so many things. It was enjoyable, it was a learning experience and it was fun. Winning is always fun,” she said. “I took a lot from Minnesota and the way that things are done there.”
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