The 2026 Minnesota Lynx assembled earlier this week for training camp in incomplete fashion. Of course, star player Napheesa Collier is still rehabbing multiple ankle surgeries and will be held out of basketball activities for some time. Collier spent some time on the exercise bike and walked off the court pretty well with one crutch during the portion of practice the media was allowed into the gym to watch.
The team is awaiting the return of Dorka Juhász, who just earned EuroLeague Women MVP honors (good news!), but missed the EuroLeague Women Final due to sustaining her own ankle injury in the semifinals (bad news!). Natasha Howard is still in China chasing a championship with the Sichuan Blue Whales, Olairi Kosu is still in Russia chasing a championship with UMMC Ekaterinberg, and Emma Cechova is still in Czechia chasing a championship for USK Praha.
The team has gone hard for the past three days so the players were given something like a day off on Wednesday. Sounds like everyone would be coming in for some individual work, but no official team practice, and thus no media availability either. So it’s the perfect day to empty the notebook and share some of the main takeaways with you, dear reader, after three days of Lynx camp.
Shredded K-Mac
Much has been made about Kayla McBride’s perforated ear drum she suffered, which kept her in Minneapolis and away from finishing a EuroLeague title run with Turkish giants Fenerbahçe. But the real story is the sleeves, or lack thereof, on McBride’s practice shirt, which she’s cut off to give everyone in the gym tickets to the gun show.
“I lost a bit of weight, so ‘A-Train’ (strength and conditioning coach Andrea Hayden) said I should take em off,” McBride said when asked about the lack of shooting sleeves. “I’m down like 16 pounds since last season so now I’m just showing them off, honestly [laughter]. I’m dead ass, though. Very proud of that. Write that down.”
Consider it written, K-Mac.
Check fellow HTH contributor Andrew Dukowitz’s Twitter page for a perfect video of the above quote that’s much more fun to be heard and seen rather than read.
In case you haven’t yet, you should probably start getting excited about Olivia Miles
Something that’s clear from talking to players and coaches over the past three days is that the rookie has already been turning heads.
By now everyone has seen the two-word endorsement of Miles’ game from Courtney Williams during a press conference held April 17 and it appears nothing has changed since then.
“She’s definitely tough on point guards, I’m already hearing it from her in a good way,” Miles said when talking about Cheryl Reeve to the media after Day 2 of camp. “There’s things that I need to clean up, but she keeps her system simple, and that’s what I love about her offense … but I can’t wait to watch film and just be there with her to go through those next steps.”
When asked to elaborate on exactly how tough Coach Reeve is on point guards, Miles had an encouraging response.
“I mean I expected a little worse, so I guess [that’s] great,” Miles said. “She’s been in my ear, positively, ‘take care of the ball, and look for this read, get your space in right,’ and obviously Coach Whay is one of the greats, so I’m hearing from her as well, they’re teaching me how to be a quarterback.”
Phee Watch 2026
The Lynx recently released an official statement listing March 24 as the date of Collier’s second ankle surgery and that her timeline to resume basketball activities is early June.
The media won’t get to see much, but we can confirm she’s been present at each practice and been vocal with her teammates and spent some time on the exercise bike. The boot remains, but she does seem to be walking well with it. Also, please don’t ask the beat writers for daily updates on Collier’s walking. This assessment is unlikely to change anytime soon, but we’ll be on it and look forward to seeing her back on the court in June.