NEW YORK— In many ways, the story of the 2026 Minnesota Lynx ended as it began. A tough loss against a bigger and stronger opponent using its size to impose their will against Minnesota’s slick, but somewhat small, operation.
Olivia Miles sat dejected in the perpetually frigid press room in the Target Center in the moments after her first professional loss. The Atlanta Dream had just dealt them a 91-90 season-opening defeat and Miles had a go-ahead opportunity in the game’s final minute but was erased at the rim by Angel Reese.
“Kind of beating myself up a little bit for the end there,” Miles reflected in the moments after her first game as a rookie. “My teammates are assuring me that I’ll learn and I can’t wait to just grow more and more every game. [To] see more and more and learn more and more.”
As Miles publicly shouldered the blame in the wake of her first professional loss, the teammate seated beside her, Courtney Williams on this night, came to her support
“Yeah that’s what we was telling her, she’s in there sick as a dog,” Williams said. “I’m like, ‘Bro, it’s okay. It’s our first game. Everything gonna be alright.’ You know, brick by brick, as long as we keep that mindset we’re gonna be alright.”
Williams continued her praise of Miles throughout the night. Referring to her as things like ‘little killer, ‘joker,’ and ‘a baby Chelsea Gray.’ After the list of endearing titles concluded she summed up her enthusiasm for the young rookie succinctly.”
“She’s gonna be so cold,” Williams said. “I’m excited just to be a part of the journey.”
A similar sentiment was present in the moments after Miles’ final game as a rookie and the final chapter in the story of the 2026 Minnesota Lynx. An 87-71 victory by the New York Liberty sent the team with the league’s best record home packing.
New York’s size shut down Minnesota’s usually potent rim pressure just as it had in Game 1, and by the time the lights went out, a season that showed signs of going deep into October came to a close.
“This is not to say that this couldn’t happen with other teams, but our two best players all season long were Olivia Miles and Natasha Howard,” Lynx president and head coach of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said after the game. “Those two, when they were on the floor we were good. When they were off the floor we had our challenges, so it’s the unfortunate part of it.”
The pick-and-roll combination between Miles and Natasha Howard never fell into rhythm against New York, and conversely there were no answers to be found for Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones on either end of the floor.
“Credit to New York…obviously Breanna Stewart is the ultimate winner,” Reeve continued. “But then I think even more than that, schematically they were very good defending the rim. So when Howard couldn’t get to her spaces and Miles couldn’t make plays with her, right? That pairing. So when Liv basically couldn’t, as I just told her, when’s the last time that a rookie led the first place team? Never happened before. And that’s what we just shared with her because…this hurts for her right now. This really, really hurts. So, trying to give her some perspective.”
Entering Tuesday night’s game, the Liberty had already done a good job defending Miles, but in Game 2 they took it even further. Miles didn’t register a stat outside of a turnover and a missed shot in the first quarter. By the time she made her first basket, the Lynx were already in a hole. She did not make another one, finishing the night 1-of-8 from the field, five points and one assist.
“I think their size really bothered us,” Miles answered when attempting to diagnose Minnesota’s problems to reporters after the game. “We didn’t really know what coverage worked best. You know, we were switching, we were hedging, we were playing drop, trying to throw a lot of things at them.”
The sting of a first-round elimination will be felt by Miles and everyone else in the Lynx organization for some time, but both the head coach and the no-longer-a-rookie point guard have emphasized the importance of this being an opportunity of tremendous growth for one of the brightest young stars in the league.
“Learning how crucial every possession is,” Miles said when asked what she’ll take away from her first playoff experience. “Sense of urgency, obviously a three-game series is tough because you have to really, really lock in what you’re doing.”
Miles calmly responded to each question with a similar contemplative dejection she displayed when talking about her first loss in this league way back on May 9th. A look of calm poise on her face almost concealing the pain of losing beneath the surface.
“I think it’ll also be valuable for me,” she continued. “As much as it sucks it is impressive that I was able to help the team get here in the first place. So I have to keep my mind on that instead of spiraling.”
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As it has been for her all year, the support from veterans like Howard, Williams, Napheesa Collier, and Kayla McBride will help propel Miles forward to the next step in her career, but the early playoff exit of this season is bound to loom large as the Lynx look to put it behind them in 2027.
“It’s been a consistent support system for me this whole year,” Miles said. “I’m so forever indebted to what they gave me my first year, the freedom I’ve been able to feel and the joy they’ve allowed me to express. It definitely makes this pain a little easier, but it does hurt knowing that we couldn’t go farther for them, because they’ve given me everything. I love them so much.”
Love was a popular sentiment among the Lynx veterans as well. None more so than with McBride, the crafty veteran who Reeve has highlighted as someone playing their best basketball in her 13th season. Not only has her game aged like a fine Bordeaux, but she’s grown into the spiritual engine and emotional leader of the group. Something Reeve often attributes to being ‘the oldest daughter in her.’
“I mean, we’ve been through a lot together,” McBride said while seated between Collier and Williams. “I think the biggest thing with this group, these two up here, there’s just a lot of unconditional love. You know, we’ve been through a lot together on and off the court, we understand, and we love each other.”
Perhaps the moment most representative of Minnesota’s triumphs and failures of the last several years took place at half court as the final seconds melted off the clock. The shot clock turned off, the volume of the crowd grew to a fevered pitch, both head coaches engaged in postgame handshakes, and there was an extended embrace between Collier, McBride, and Williams. The trio who returned to Minnesota for another crack at it when most of the roster of the last couple playoff runs had been decimated, drawn to each other in the final moments of the final game they’ll get to share this season.
“We got to each other at special times in our career, and what we’ve created in Minnesota, our culture, when people come into it they love it,” McBride said. “They love being a part of what we’ve been able to grow these last couple years. That’s not lost on me. These are two really, really special people. People, before anything. So, that embrace is about the people that are sitting next to me. My sisters, people that I love, that will be in my life forever. That’s what that is. That’s it. It’s not even about basketball at that point.”
It’s difficult for fans to not look at how this year’s unprecedented playoff bracket shook out and not wonder, what if? What if the draw had been different? What if they hadn’t gotten the No. 1 seed? What if there was less parity and a more traditional No. 8 seed with a .500 or losing record?
Those are the questions that can consume an entire offseason and cloud the story of the journey of the season that just took place. A tough, but natural reality for a team with championship aspirations.
“This is a tough way to go out, to get swept in the first round,” Reeve said. “No shame in losing to a team that possesses the players that New York has, so I have really good perspective on this. I thought the playoffs would be hard for our team regardless of who we were playing in the first round. We probably needed a little better matchup to do some of the things we did all season long, but that’s not how it works.
“[I’m] sad for those guys, but really, really proud. And I don’t love them any less and we shared that with them.”
As the basketball world forecasts the future of each team that gets eliminated from the playoffs as society is want to do, the elephant in the room is what will unrestricted-free-agent-to-be Napheesa Collier decide? Minnesota has the rest of its starting five under contract for next season, as well as top bench piece Nia Brodie, and Ola Kosu heading into her third season. Collier has never been an unrestricted free agent and can expect to receive compelling offers from all 15 teams across the league.
The rest of the roster is on either Restricted Free Agent or Reserved Player status and the Lynx will have flexibility and cap space to work with. Reeve and her staff will be faced with a long and hard offseason, leaving no stone unturned to try and figure out all the things that went wrong and all the ways and more to fix it.
It’s easy for one to get the feeling that she’s already started.
“Obviously, I can’t foresee the future, but I just know we have some work to do,” Reeve said. “I have to help us. I have to get us the appropriate help to do it. Make the hard decisions to do that. Then I’ve got to be able to, I couldn’t get us in there in this series. That’s on me. I have to help them in the playoffs, so that’s on me. Both as an executive and as a coach. I’ll find a way to do that.”
