MINNEAPOLIS — After a standout career at Duke by way of the University of Georgia, Reigan Richardson arrived in Minneapolis for Lynx training camp in 2025 one year before the two additional developmental spots arrived on WNBA rosters, along with a new collective bargaining agreement in 2026.
The timing of Richardson’s first professional chapter may have been just too early to take advantage of modern roster expansion, but her performance in last year’s training camp lasted all the way until the camp’s final cut. It earned her the right to come back to Minneapolis in a year’s time for another shot at cracking the final roster.
“If we had development spots last year, she would have been in one for sure,” Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said. “At that time you told her, ‘You have an open invite to come back next year. You know, go overseas and try to have a good season, build on it and come back here and build [more.]’ Last year, she defended her tail off and she made threes. I think finding that consistency to be able to shoot the ball would go a long, long way for her. She has everything else and that’s why we brought her back.”
Richardson is back with the Lynx with the experience of last year’s training camp and a full season of playing in Liga Femenina with Gran Canaria under her belt.
“Getting that experience last year in training camp, and [then] overseas, it really helped me with the intensity of the game,” Richardson told the media after Day 3 of this year’s training camp. “Being over there really helped me develop in different ways that I know I needed to coming from training camp last year, so I think I’m in a really good headspace too.”
Richardson averaged 14.6 points in 22 games with Canaria and got plenty of minutes on the court to work on the tools she knew needed sharpening after her first training camp with the Lynx.
“I just needed that experience,” Richardson added. “My decision-making was the biggest thing I needed to work on, and so that’s what I really worked on overseas.”
Richardson isn’t the first player to perform well enough to earn another camp invite but fall just short of making the team. It’s something Reeve and the Lynx have done in the past, and it hasn’t always provided the result both the team and the player hoped for.
“I told her, a lot of times when we do the [open invite], and say you had a great training camp, and she knows she did, and then you invite them back for the second time, sometimes it doesn’t go well because their mindset is different,” Reeve said. “[The first time] you come in free and loose, then the second time you squeeze a little bit because you’re like, ‘I’ve got to make it this time.’ I’ve asked her not to focus on the outcome. I’ve asked her each day to find the drills that she knows are wins for her, win the drill. When you look up at the end, you might like what you see. That’s all you can do.”
Richardson played sparingly in both preseason games for the Lynx last year. She’s already improved upon that output by earning a start in Minnesota’s first preseason game against the Mystics on Saturday, where she hit the lone three-point shot she attempted and added a steal on the defensive end in a 77-66 win.
“Oh, so much growth,” Courtney Williams told reporters when asked how much she’s seen Richardson improve from last year to this year. “It’s the confidence, man,” she then added with a laugh. “It’s the confidence. You can always feel the confidence in the way she’s walking, that swag is a little different.”
Richardson’s growth in the swag department bodes well for someone who entered her first training camp with outstanding professionalism. It’s an attribute she credits to her collegiate coach Kara Lawson, whom she played for at Duke.
“Her main thing was basically just having a routine,” Richardson said during Minnesota Lynx media day in 2025. “Being a pro means not just doing what it takes on the court, but in the time we have available is doing the extra work. Whether it’s focusing on your sleep, focusing on your nutrition, doing that extra shooting, extra conditioning, whatever it takes to become 1% better each and every day.”
The last part is what will help her close the gap from nearly making it to sticking around after rosters cut down.
It’s still too early to project how the Lynx, as well as the rest of the league, will view their new developmental spots. Richardson has already performed well enough to earn a developmental spot — she just did it before they existed. The key to doing it again is just repeating what already got her here — getting 1% better each day and not giving a shred of focus to the outcome.
“If you are stressed about the outcome,” Reeve added, “you’re not going to be able to execute and perform.”
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