The WNBA is back!
The league’s 30th season tips off May 8, kicking off a season that many didn’t expect to start on time due to ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations this offseason.
However, we crammed an offseason worth of madness into a month, resulting in the WNBA season starting as planned here at the beginning of May.
For the Minnesota Lynx, they tip off the 2026 campaign on May 10 in Minneapolis, and we’re looking at the season ahead with predictions of what we could see, storylines we’re watching and what the potential of this team could be.
Dive in!
Ceiling vs. Floor
Mitchell Hansen:
The last few seasons, Minnesota has been in contention for a championship and even came seconds away from winning its fifth ring in 2024, only to come up just short against New York. Given the roster turnover and the absence of Napheesa Collier, this Lynx team won’t return as the same team we saw the last few years. However, this team could still make some noise and have a strong season. Minnesota will reach the playoffs, but the ceiling for this team is probably reaching the semifinals.
With plenty of uncertainty about this team, how it will fit, and how quickly Collier can return, things could spiral quickly for the Lynx. The floor for this team would be taking a big step back and missing out on the postseason, which would be disappointing for Cheryl Reeve and company. It’s not likely we’ll see a playoffs without the Lynx, but there’s just too much uncertainty with this team at the moment to know for sure.
Terry Horstman:
This won’t surprise anyone who has ever consumed a shred of Lynx content from me over the past four seasons, but the floor is still reasonably high for me. Many have learned the hard way to doubt this team at their own peril and I’d caution against that this year as well. Heading into the 2024 season, there were those who forecasted the Lynx outside of the playoff hunt and had no idea how Cheryl Reeve could make signings like Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith workable.
I don’t know exactly how it’s going to look, but this team will be in the playoffs again. I’m not planning the parade route quite yet, so the ceiling may not be the league’s highest, but it could still be the league’s best. Like the Sistine Chapel.
Andrew Dukowitz:
With the considerable amount of uncertainty around the Lynx, expectation-setting is going to be difficult. Realistically, this team at its best is still headlined by the second-best player in the WNBA, Napheesa Collier, who is flanked by a pair of All-Star guards in Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams. They added two capable vet pieces in free agency in Nia Coffey and Natasha Howard, and are returning Dorka Juhasz off a Euroleague MVP.
If 1-2 of their young international players pop and Olivia Miles is a solid starter, the ceiling for the Lynx is where it always is — a championship. The floor however, is much lower than past years. If Miles struggles, if Collier doesn’t return fully healthy or one piece goes down injured for the season, the Lynx could wind up as a lottery team.
The best part is we will find out the answers and only time will tell them to us.
Player to Watch
MH:
Although I am really intrigued by what Olivia Miles will do right away in her rookie campaign, a player I am watching right out of the gate (or when she gets healthy and steps on the court for the first time) is Dorka Juhász.
I think Juhász will have a similar type of season to what we saw from Jessica Shepard in 2025, that being a player who took a step up after taking a season off to remain overseas. And I think she’s going to have a big year back in the W.
After sitting out the 2025 season while remaining overseas and focusing on rest, Juhász is returning to the WNBA and to the Lynx this summer and will have a larger role than we saw her have the last time she stepped on a WNBA court in 2024. Juhász had an impressive offseason with Galatasaray in Turkey, earning EuroLeague MVP honors and becoming the youngest player — at the age of 26 — to ever be named the league’s MVP.
Juhász is still young, she still has a lot of potential, and this season, she will an even bigger opportunity to showcase what she is able to do.
TH:
I mean the answer here is Olivia Miles, but we’ve been talking about her non-stop since draft night (did you know she’s a pure point guard?!?!?!).
Miles is the real answer, but I’ll use this space for Ola Kosu. The Lynx selected Kosu with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 draft. Words like ‘athleticism,’ ‘raw,’ ‘potential,’ ‘youth,’ were all used to describe the young Russian player who grew up modeling her game after Nneka Ogwumike, who played for Kosu’s hometown team Dynamo Kursk from 2014-18. Kosu played sparingly for Minnesota in 2025 and spent the offseason back in Russia with UMMC Ekaterinberg, whom she helped to win their 18th Premier League title and earned individual Playoff MVP honors as well.
During this preseason/training camp with the Lynx, Kosu looks more sure of herself and ready to put last year’s educational experience into practice. More than two years younger than Miles, Kosu is the youngest player on the Lynx roster, and just celebrated her golden birthday on April 21.
By no means should fans be expecting a finished product out of Kosu at this stage in her career, but don’t be surprised if she grows into a useful role player with some sensational highlight moments.
AD:
Antonia Delaere, it’s not a flashy answer and I’d imagine that’s exactly how she would want it.
At the age of 31, she made the decision to come stateside and play in the WNBA. Not for a lucrative contract, but according to her, it’s to prove that she can do it to herself.
She has 15 years of professional basketball experience, she’s an excellent three point shooter, a solid defender and is a professional role player that is in desperate need of that exact experience with the departure of Bridget Carleton in the offseason. I think she gets a lot of minutes on a young team in need of glue to bind them all together.
Storyline We’re Watching
MH:
I will start with the obvious storyline that everyone is going to be talking about and keeping an eye on all year long: the future of Napheesa Collier in Minnesota. I do think this whole situation is being overblown, but the recent comments from Collier regarding why she elected to sign a one-year contract rather than a multi-year deal are interesting, to say the least. I do think this is a situation where both Collier and the Lynx want to just see how things go this season.
For Collier, she likely wants to see what this team will look like, how her recovery goes, and what the future of the team is beyond this season. I could also see Collier wanting to sign a one-year deal like she did this offseason and waiting things out to see what type of free agents Minnesota could bring in next offseason, and then taking a pay cut to make that work.
For the Lynx, I could see them wanting to sign Collier to a one-year deal and seeing how things go with her recovery. Don’t get me wrong, if Collier didn’t return to 100% of what we saw from her in year’s past, she’s still one of the top players in the league. But I could see Minnesota also wanting the flexibility and see how she looks when she returns. I do think the Lynx wanted to sign her to a multi-year deal this offseason, but Collier wanted a short-term deal.
This will be a storyline that is talked about all season long, until Collier signs a long-term deal in Minnesota (if that happens). I do think this is also a situation where Collier is putting the Lynx in a spot where they need to focus on adding some big-name players this season or next offseason, especially after striking out in free agency the last few offseasons. Collier wants to win and she wants to win now — but good news for Lynx fans, Cheryl Reeve has the exact same mindset.
TH:
Oy vey, can’t wait for the nine consecutive months of Free-Agent-Phee-Watch Mitchell outlined above (#PheeAgency, anybody???). As I’m pretty sure Plato once said, ‘miss me with that shit.’
Sure, anytime a star player leaves things murky it’s natural for the speculation to run wild. I fully understand why Collier will be in the headlines every single time the team wins or loses. That doesn’t mean we need to devolve into the most unhinged segments of ESPN’s First Take every time we talk about the Lynx (are there non-unhinged segments of First Take???). I’m going to go a different direction.
I don’t think anyone will accuse me of being a homer for expecting the Lynx to win at least 16 games in this 44-game season. When they do hit win No. 16, Cheryl Reeve will officially surpass friend of the program Mike Thibault (father of Lynx Associate Head Coach Eric Thibault) as the all-time winningest coach in WNBA history with 380 career wins. Reeve already has the elder Thibault beat in regular season wins plus playoff wins, 416-413, so win No. 380 will merely make her the winningest coach in every single metric. No matter what happens from here, it’s a record that will stand for a decent amount of time. Sandy Brondello in Toronto enters the season 95 total wins behind Reeve with 269. The next two closest to Reeve in total wins are Becky Hammon (117) and Stephanie White (116). Even if Bill Laimbeer (306) got the urge to come back and chase the record (sounds like something he’d do, but probably not) he would need at least two pretty damn good seasons with Reeve retiring to even have a chance.
This record will belong to Reeve for awhile and speaks to her longevity in Minnesota. Not only will she take hold of the record, but she’ll be someone who did it entirely with one franchise. Thibault compiled his 379 wins across tenures in Connecticut and Washington. Laimbeer did so in Detroit, two stints in New York, and finishing in Las Vegas.
It’s also significant for WNBA history considering the rest of the coaches in the top five are all men. Brondello currently sits in 6th in all-time wins and is 17 wins away from catching Dan Hughes. We all know opportunities for women in basketball didn’t just happen the moment the league tipped off. It’s been a long time coming for ownership across the league to properly invest in women’s sports and to properly empower women within women’s sports. The league still has plenty of work to do, but in its 30th season, it will be a fitting development to see Reeve take that step to the top of the mountain.
AD:
*Sigh* this is the problem with turning your homework in last minute — Phee and Cheryl are off the board.
A storyline I’ll be hyper focused on is how the infusion of the European players meshes with the Lynx roster. At time of writing, they have five foreign-born players all on team-friendly deals.
With the new CBA hitting on a couple of these rolls of the dice could be huge for the franchise moving forward and open up a bigger pipeline for the Lynx to continue scouting and brining in talent from overseas.
Bold Predictions
MH:
Five Lynx players have earned Rookie of the Year honors over the course of history. In 2026, Olivia Miles will join that list and will be the sixth player to do so in franchise history, joining Betty Lennox (2000), Seimone Augustus (2006), Maya Moore (2011), Napheesa Collier (2019) and Crystal Dangerfield (2020).
Miles, the No. 2 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, will be thrown right into things with the Lynx this summer, and everything we have seen to this point shows that she will be more than capable of hitting the ground running. Miles has a lot of what you want in a point guard — a player who is willing to take ownership and lead (even with her status as a rookie), a player who can be a floor general and can impact an offense in multiple ways, and a point guard that has a high IQ. There is a defensive question mark to her game at the moment, but that is something Minnesota will be working with Miles on and already have.
Miles seems wise beyond her years — both with her play on the court and with her leadership — and we’ll see how fast that translates in her rookie season in the WNBA. But with Lynx assistant coach and Hall of Famer Lindsay Whalen by her side, along with the rest of the Lynx coaching staff, Miles will be well set up to make a strong impact and that will result in Rookie of the Year honors.
Prediction: Olivia Miles wins 2026 Rookie of the Year
TH:
I agree with everything Mitchell said, and I think a primary beneficiary of that coming to fruition will be Kayla McBride, who famously texted Reeve the second after Miles was selected at No. 2 to express her joy. I expect Courtney Williams to also have one of the best scoring seasons of her career, as well, but I think McBride could be transcendent.
She’ll turn 34 on June 25 and only seems to get stronger with age like a fine Bordeaux. She claimed she’s lost 16 pounds since last season and is the most shredded she’s ever been, cutting the sleeves off her practice shirts to make sure everyone knows.
Prediction: Kayla McBride averages north of 18.0 ppg for the first time since 2018; and just for funsies, wins the 3-point contest at All-Star Weekend
AD:
I joke often about the Lynx going into tank mode. And that’s all it is, a joke. This Lynx team is dangerous, hungry, a balance of young and old, Euro and US, grit and elegance, and most importantly, they are underdogs again — something the team seems to thrive as.
The Lynx may not finish as a top-four seed this season. Heck, they might not even be top-six. When playoffs come around though, no one is going to want to play a team anchored by Collier, a potential ROTY, All-Star guards, and depth of talent that specialized in their roles behind her.
The prediction writes itself, the Lynx will MAKE the finals. From there I can’t say, but I still expect a deep run.
Prediction: Lynx make the WNBA Finals as road warriors
Season Predictions
MH:
I don’t think this Lynx season will be a full-on rebuild year like many believe, and I actually think the Lynx will surprise some people throughout the regular season. For some, there is an uncertainty of Minnesota’s potential due to the absence of Napheesa Collier to start the year and the roster turnover, notably the wave of international players Minnesota brought in this offseason. Nobody knows what this team will look like, how those new players — many of whom casual fans don’t know much about — will adjust to the WNBA, and just how much the roster turnover will impact the Lynx.
With all of that said, of the Lynx can get Napheesa Collier back in early June — meaning she would miss like 10 or so games — they’ll be OK. Minnesota will take a bit of a step back from a season ago, but I think people could end up being surprised at what the talent on this roster can do. And I think the Lynx reach the playoffs once again.
Prediction: 27-17 overall; 6th seed; Reaches first round of playoffs
TH:
Call me crazy, but I don’t see much of a regression here. I’m not expecting a near wire-to-wire tear through the season like last year, but my bold prediction here is the Lynx will have homecourt advantage for the first-round of the playoffs. I’ve heard all about the turnover. What team not named Las Vegas isn’t dealing with turnover? The biggest shuffle in league history occurred this past offseason and every team (including the Aces) will be figuring things out in the early going. I think the Lynx can do far more than just merely tread water while waiting for Collier and Juhász to return. The schedule during those early weeks isn’t super intimidating. Then what?
Well, Collier returns and plays at the same MVP caliber we’ve seen over the past few seasons? Maybe Juhász shows the EuroLeague Women MVP is so not a fluke and guess what she’s a top ten post player in the league now? Olivia Miles is awesome? Are we really supposed to feel nothing but doom and gloom because the Lynx might start 6-6? If this team can stay healthy once they get healthy then look out.
You know the scene at the end of Zoolander when Will Ferrell as Mugatu is just screaming ‘I FEEL LIKE I’M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!’ That’s how I feel every time someone mentions the word ‘rebuild.’
Prediction: 29-15; 4th seed; Reaches semifinals
AD:
Yet again, I just agree with Terry too much — I also feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Dominating the regular season is not the goal for the Lynx, they’ve been there, done that. This season is going to have face palms a plenty as Miles learns to play in the pros and the roster gels.
BUT
Come to playoffs, I expect another well-oiled machine led by Cheryl Reeve with plenty of “The Lynx Second Dynasty Is Over Before It Started” headlines plastered on the tack boards around Mayo Clinic Square as motivation.
Prediction: 26-18; 6th seed; Reaches the WNBA Finals.