On the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, The Next’s Lucas Seehafer joins host Howard Megdal to discuss the particulars of how Napheesa Collier has somehow gotten better, the team’s depth promising even more offensive firepower this season, and what we can learn about the durability of WNBA audiences through the Lynx.
Megdal and Seehafer started by talking about Wednesday night’s matchup between the Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics in Baltimore. Despite Caitlin Clark‘s injury, more than 11,000 fans showed up to watch the teams square off. Megdal and Seehafer put the national media storm surrounding Clark’s injury into perspective with comparison to the Lynx, who have consistently drawn large audiences in their home market over the last decade and a half.
“Caitlin Clark can both be leading the charge in increased viewership, but also not be the sole reason why that is,” Seehafer said. “And I think particularly in Minnesota, where we have just an abundance of history in women’s sports, but women’s basketball in general, because not only do we have the history of the Minnesota Lynx, but look at Minnesota high school basketball, or the Gophers back in Lindsay Whalen‘s days … I think you can make the argument that, really, the most successful sports entity in the state has been women’s basketball.”
Megdal and Seehafer also analyzed the Lynx’s 5-0 start and the role Collier has played in leading the team. She currently leads the league in points per game with 26.8 and continues to be one of the best defensive players in the WNBA.
“You wouldn’t have been crazy [last year] to say, like, ‘Hey, we’re at peak Phee,'” Seehafer said. “But right now, through the first five games of the season, it’s like, all right, not only is she the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, but she’s among the best scorers in the entire league.”
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