“I stand corrected!”: $12 million worth Dawn Staley reacts as ex-South Carolina star Te-Hina Paopao starts for Atlanta Dream in her WNBA debut 

Former South Carolina Gamecocks guard and now Atlanta Dream rookie Te-Hina Paopao just played her first-ever WNBA game. On Saturday, the 2025 WNBA season opened with one of its first games being a matchup between the Dream and the Washington Mystics on the latter's home floor.

Paopao's former coach at her alma mater, Dawn Staley, who has a net worth of $12 million per Celebrity Net Worth, rejoiced over the fact that the guard was starting in her professional league debut. Staley posted the Dream's graphic of their starting five against the Mystics on X/Twitter, including a caption that showed her fired-up reaction:

"I stand corrected!! Starting at PG, @tehinapaopaoo! Let’s get it started Pao!!!," Staley exclaimed.

However, the Dream ended up losing to Washington by four points, 94-90. In her first start and WNBA debut, Paopao put up seven points on 3-for-6 overall shooting, to go along with three rebounds, four assists and a steal in 25 minutes played.

Despite the loss, Paopao has her rookie year ahead of her with the whole Gamecocks program and her former mentor Dawn Staley rallying closely behind. She is coming off a five-year college basketball tenure, the first three of which were spent with the Oregon Ducks while the last two were with Staley at South Carolina.

Throughout her collegiate hoops stint, the Oceanside, California native averaged 11.4 markers, 3.3 boards, 3.4 dimes and 1.1 steals per game. She helped the 2024-25 Gamecocks to an overall record of 35-4, 15-1 during 2025 SEC play.

Te-Hina Paopao heads into WNBA after 2 straight national finals trips with coach Dawn Staley

As Te-Hina Paopao commences his first season in the WNBA with the Atlanta Dream, she is bringing valuable NCAA national championship game experience with her. In the final two seasons of her college basketball tenure, Paopao went to back-to-back winner-take-all games in 2024 and 2025 under the tutelage of coach Dawn Staley with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Their two trips to the culmination of March Madness resulted in a 1-1 record. In 2024, Paopao won her lone national title with the Gamecocks after they toppled the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75. But, in their national championship defense a year later, they were defeated convincingly by Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies 82-59, to put an end to her college stint.