Olivia Miles comes to the Minnesota Lynx as one of the most decorated draft picks in years. A perpetual All-American, All-Conference, All-Everything kind of player who can elevate the play of the teammates surrounding her.
Five-time All-Star Kayla McBride reaching out to Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve to express her excitement before Miles had even walked across the length of the draft night stage speaks volumes. McBride added her enthusiasm to her Instagram story, tagging Miles and letting her know, “my feet are already set for ya.”
Earning the confidence of the veterans is a crucial first step in the development of any young career, and it’s apparent Miles has already ticked it off the list.
Questions that will take much longer for her to answer, at least until she plays a game or two, are in regards to her defense. Miles doesn’t need to immediately turn into Teresa Weatherspoon on the defensive side of the ball to be a successful pick for the Lynx, but if she can grow in that area, it will be a giant step forward to becoming the type of transcendent player organizations always hope a No. 2 overall pick can become.
The process of answering those questions has already begun. Reeve ended her official ‘hey, we’re drafting you,’ phone call with Miles with three words: “bring your defense.” Miles didn’t shy away from the first demand from her new head coach, responding, “it’s already in my bag.”
To her credit, Miles brought up the topic of defensive improvement early in her press conference minutes after hearing her name called at the draft.
“I’m excited to compete,” she said. “I know Coach [Reeve] is going to hold me to a high standard, as well as my teammates, but yeah I’m excited to compete, and be intense, and learn a new pace of the game, and fight over ball screens on every play, and have my ‘welcome to the league,’ moment. I’m just excited to compete. There’s always areas of growth, especially on the defensive end for me that I’m excited to grow from. I can’t wait to start watching film immediately and getting in the gym with those girls, learning tips and tricks that can help me with that.”
The Minnesota Lynx have boasted the stingiest defense in the WNBA across the last two seasons and produced two Defensive Player of the Year winners in Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith to show for it. The expectations won’t be quite as high for Miles. It’s been almost a decade since a guard has won DPOY, but her ability to learn and fit into a high-level WNBA defense will be an essential part of how much success she and the Lynx can accomplish together in 2026.
“I think it’ll be an evolution,” Reeve said when asked after the draft about her expectations for how quickly Miles can grow defensively. “A lot of times in college, you can play a certain way and get away with it. That’s why you do it, because you can get away with it. You know [she’s] a smart person, player, she is not going to be the one who isn’t carrying her weight when it comes to that. I’m going to judge her on what I see when she gets here. She has a chance to come in and make her mark in that way.”
The phrases ‘generational passer’ and ‘best pure point guard since Lindsay Whalen’ are the reasons Reeve and the Lynx made Miles the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. Those traits can make her a great player in year one. Becoming a championship player for an organization desperately to get back to championship glory will be the result of how she combines those traits with what she does on the other end of the floor.
“I tell players all the time, championships are the best combinations of offense and defense,” Reeve added. “If you’re a leader of a team, you’ve got to make sure that if you’re out there that you do what you’re supposed to do… It’ll be a real introduction. We listed all the players she’s going to have to be guarding, all the types of actions she’s going to have to be guarding, I think she’s looking forward to it.
“I think she’s one that likes the challenge, and wants to meet it, and prove people wrong.”