MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve didn’t mince words before her team tipped off against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center back on June 19.
“It’s huge,” Reeve said. “That should not be understated, that should be in bold. We’re successful because Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams, obviously [Napheesa Collier] who’s not out there yet, and their belief in this franchise. To re-sign [here] and not want to be anywhere else at a time where it was really easy, this unprecedented [time] it was really cool to change teams, maybe there’s something better, they didn’t get caught up in it. It’s something I’ll always appreciate and I tell them that.”
The Lynx went on to win that game by a final score of 81-75. Williams put up 21 points and grabbed 12 boards and was blowing kisses to the Valkyries’s iconic home crowd before the night was through. McBride poured in 17 in ‘just-another-day-at-the-office’ like fashion.
“For me it’s their belief in how we do it,” Reeve added. “They are the ones that every day live it for the rest of [the team]. Obviously, Natasha Howard was here before, so she also knew what was going to be expected of her and how we do things. So, please, please shout that really loud. Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams are extremely, extremely instrumental in where we are.”
The aforementioned ‘unprecedented time’ Reeve spoke of referred to the massive and lucrative game of musical chairs that was WNBA free agency in 2026. After the terms of the landmark collective bargaining agreement were agreed to by the WNBA and the WNBA Players Association, there was more salary cap space to use than ever before. With about 90% of the league’s veterans out of a contract, there were also more players available to receive lucrative offers than any offseason to date.
Minnesota held the same amount of cap space as every other team in the league, but no team has enough room to offer five max contracts. The Lynx used three of them to retain McBride, Williams, and Collier. Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith departed for max level deals in Portland and Dallas respectively. Key bench contributors Jessica Shepard and Natisha Hiedeman also took handsome deals in other WNBA cities, with Shepard joining Smith in Dallas and Hiedeman going out west to Seattle. An exodus of talent that was difficult to endure for fans of a team who watched a tight-knit group win 64 regular season games over the previous two years.
Many of the names on the backs of the jerseys changed, but the standard that comes with bearing the name on the front of the jersey remained the same.
“The top,” Williams said directly when asked where she felt the Lynx stacked up at the press conference announcing the return of Minnesota’s esteemed big three. “We at the top.”
“Ain’t nothing changed,” McBride added smoothly.
Technically speaking, there have been a number of changes, but perhaps the most impressive thing about Minnesota’s success in 2026 has been the multitude of ways in which they’ve shown they can win games.
Williams is an all-star again for the second consecutive season. In eight seasons with other WNBA franchises, she made one all-star game before coming to Minnesota. She made it last year playing the lead guard spot for the franchise, and now back at her natural two-guard position thanks to the presence of Olivia Miles.
“It’s just a testament to this program,” Williams said recently. “This organization putting me in a position to be successful. Obviously, my teammates, my coaches, just getting your girl back in the game, man!”
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McBride is not currently on the list of players heading to Chicago for All-Star Weekend next week, but she’s making a convincing case for herself in the event that an injury replacement is needed. Still, she’s averaging 17.3 points per game, marking her highest output as a Lynx, and second highest of her career since she averaged 18.1 in 2018 with the Aces.
McBride’s been crucial to the Lynx all season, but her last five games have been transcendent. She’s eclipsed the 20-point mark in all five, including a 37-point outburst against the Mercury, and is averaging 27.4 points through that stretch.
“She’s been going so crazy,” Williams said after Minnesota’s latest win against the Sparks on Wednesday. “I know what she do. I’m in the trenches with her everyday so I know what she do. I’m just happy everybody’s getting to see it. Like I said when I just had my TV interview, they better look at them All-Stars again because she’s definitely supposed to be there with us.”
It’s year No. 13 for McBride. She’s been in the league for nearly half of its 30-year existence. She may be one of the team’s elder stateswomen, but she insists she’s playing with as much child-like joy as she ever has. Having her mom LuAnn sitting courtside for a couple of games didn’t hurt either, especially to have her witness her historic 37-point night firsthand.
“I love the game. I love playing here at Target Center. My mom, I keep telling my mom I average 30 when she’s here, so I’m trying to get her to move to Minnesota,” McBride said after the game. “Really that’s why I’ve been playing like this, but you know, I just love the game.”
McBride passed hall of famer Tina Thompson for No. 5 on the all-time 3-pointers list earlier in the season. If she continues at this pace she’ll have a good chance of passing current Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon for No. 4.
“I think especially when I step into this arena, I want to give my best,” McBride said after Monday night’s win against Phoenix. “That’s really what it was. Whatever it takes, you know. Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t, today they were going in so just try to maximize that. I’m just trying to compete at a high level and be the player that I know I can be for this organization that I care about so much.”
Averaging 5.6 rebounds per game, Williams is solidifying her case as one of the best rebounding guards in the league’s history. She and Seattle’s Flau’jae Johnson, with 140 rebounds apiece, are the only guards in the league’s top 20 as of July 16. The Lynx currently sit at No. 2 in the league with 35.5 rebounds per game, and the fact that they have the most prolific rebounding guard in the league is a big reason why.
“One of the best rebounding guards ever,” McBride said. “Her athleticism, she’s not afraid to get in there and dig them out. It’s just Court. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. She’s one of the most competitive people I know. She just wants to do everything she can to help us win. The confidence that she has in herself and the belief that she has in herself is contagious.”
The contagious nature of McBride and Williams was on display in that Golden State game. Just a few hours after Reeve asked for the impact the pair of veterans have on winning to be shouted about by anyone listening, the Lynx found themselves in clutch time with one of the other contending teams in the league. It hadn’t been the best of nights for Miles, but leaning in on what she’s learned from her veterans, she kept her head in the game and effected winning by making the game-sealing blocked shot on a Cecilia Zandalasini 3-point attempt.
“Those two are my biggest cheerleaders and I feel the same for them,” Miles said two days after that Golden State game. “I didn’t have my best offensive game [that night] and I went up to them and was like, ‘Thank you guys for carrying today,’ and they were like, ‘We got you! You this for us every night.’ So it’s stuff like that where they’re just there for me and I trust that they’re going to lift me up when I’m down and vice versa.”
When asked more recently what’s been the biggest key to sustaining the team’s place atop the WNBA standings, Miles immediately knew that the answer was steadiness.
“Consistency, man,” she said. “Just showing up and doing it every day. It’s literally stacking your days and falling in love with the process and not getting bored with it. You can’t get bored with it even when you’re doing it every single day.”
At 19-6, the Lynx have won a lot of games (and a lot of possessions), and have put themselves in good position to be in the championship mix at just over the halfway mark. They may be stacking wins, but they’re certainly not counting any achievements yet, and the focus that’s part of the organization’s long standing standard is trained in on the same details it always is.
“The boring little things that nobody sees, the conversations, the film, these adverse situations too,” McBride said after Wednesday’s win against the Los Angeles Sparks. “Going through it during the season and finding a way. Whether we’re tired, three games in four days, whatever, because that’s what a playoff series is like. I think we’re learning as a group. I know [Natasha Howard’s] been in situations, but bringing Nia [Coffey] along, bringing Liv along, and Cheryl’s really good about that. Holding it to the same standard so it’s kind of contagious. Everyday we’re in there just doing little things so hopefully when we get to that point, we’re ready.”
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