Chloe Kitts, Raven Johnson show love to former Gamecock Te-Hina Paopao's preseason snaps

Former South Carolina Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao is currently experiencing her first taste of the WNBA. In the preseason leading up to the 2025 campaign, Paopao has been trying to find her footing with the Atlanta Dream as they finished the preseason with a record of 1-1.

The 2025 WNBA season commences on Friday, and the Dream will play their first game on the same day against the Washington Mystics in away territory. But it's already a huge accomplishment for Paopao to be on a WNBA roster, as she shared some snaps from her preseason tenure on her Instagram account on Wednesday.

"Dreamin’ without the nightmares cause we in da 🅰️ not philly. #yr1skiiiii," Paopao captioned.

Her Instagram post highlighting her first WNBA preseason garnered attention from her former teammates Chloe Kitts and Raven Johnson, who showed love to Paopao in the comments section.

"Come back," Kitts wrote with an emoji.

(Image credits: @tehinapaopao on Instagram)

"Booty," Johnson commented with two red heart emojis.

Together, the three Gamecocks won the 2024 national championship under the tutelage of legendary coach Dawn Staley. They did it by defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes in that year's NCAA national championship game after an 87-75 victory, with Paopao, Kitts and Johnson all playing substantial minutes.

Throughout her five-year college basketball tenure, two of which were spent at South Carolina, Te-Hina Paopao averaged 11.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per contest.

Te-Hina Paopao was the 18th pick to the Atlanta Dream in the 2025 WNBA draft

During the 2025 WNBA draft on April 14, Te-Hina Paopao was selected by the Atlanta Dream with the 18th pick in the second round. She has since logged in two preseason games for the team, averaging 10.5 markers, 1.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 blocks in around 20.5 minutes per contest.

Paopao joined an Atlanta team coached by Kari Smesko, who was hired on Nov. 13, 2024. Led by WNBA All-Stars Britney Griner and Allisha Gray under the tutelage of then-coach Tanisha Wright, the 2024 Dream roster finished with a regular-season record of 15-25 and were bounced out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Liberty.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

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Edited by R. Elahi