MINNEAPOLIS — April of 2026 was not the most fun of months for Minnesota Lynx fans. As the ink dried on the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, the salary cap shot up and the money started flying.
Teams across the WNBA were prepared for the reality created by a sudden abundance of cap space in addition to a two-team expansion draft. Fans in every city had to understand that everyone would be losing someone, but for the Lynx, the losses of players like Bridget Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman, Jessica Shepard, and Alanna Smith in a matter of days could only be summed up as a jarring experience. The pace of it all didn’t even allow one time to fully grasp what it meant for one player leaving before another player was headed out the door mere moments later.
Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said as much on draft night, the first time she addressed the media after free agency.
“Look at our Lynx players. I don’t know what our total is up to, but north of $5 million [for last year’s starting five], we’re so happy for them,” she said. “It sucks for the Minnesota Lynx to have our team broken up this way, but this is life. We’ll find our way forward and be fans of all those players that gave so much to the Lynx. The 64 games in two years that they won together … and they had a lot of joy in what they were doing as everybody knows, but this is professional sports.”
The way forward has yielded positive results on top of positive results for the Minnesota Lynx, who find themselves at the top of the league standings with a record of 11-3. The player Reeve selected hours before that draft night availability, Olivia Miles, has galvanized fans across the country and put her name at the top of the Rookie of the Year race. Natasha Howard looks like an all-star and Nia Coffey has been a boxscore-stuffing defensive stalwart. Courtney Williams is scoring at the highest clip of her three seasons with the Lynx and Kayla McBride has anchored the No. 1 defense in the WNBA. All contributing factors to Lynx fans enjoying this aforementioned “new era” as much if not more than the last.
Emotions were still high over the past couple weeks as the schedule gave Lynx fans three consecutive home games to pay homage to players who now bear different names across the front of the jersey, but still have names on the back that will never be forgotten in Lynx lore.
“I feel like Minnesota, honestly, just really shaped me a lot. I feel like that’s a testament to the fans, the community, my teammates, and coaches,” Seattle Storm guard Hiedeman said before playing the Lynx for the first time this season on June 6. “I really embrace Minnesota. I feel like this was my family, so I’m just excited to play in front of these fans again as well. They really supported me through our wins, losses, ups and downs, and are really true fans.”
Hiedeman got to be a Lynx fan herself for a day as Seattle arrived to town early enough for her to catch the Lynx play the Valkyries from a courtside seat two days before the Storm played the Lynx.
A few days later the Wings were in town, along with the twin pillars of Shepard and Smith. Shepard spent her entire WNBA career prior to 2026 in Minnesota, while Smith reinvented herself as a Lynx and reached the heights of Co-Defensive Player of the Year after getting cut by both Phoenix and Indiana earlier in her career.
“This is the place that drafted me, so it was a place that made a childhood dream come true,” Shepard said at shootaround before the Lynx vs. Wings game on June 9. “It’s a special place for me… The fans have always been amazing here in Minnesota. From when they come to the games and support us to outside of the gym, always full of kind words. It’ll be exciting to see some of those faces again.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Smith said when asked how emotional she’d feel during the inevitable ovation before the game. “I think about it now and I get emotional just because the memories are so good. Being able to be appreciated even when you’re on the opposition is really cool. I’ll always have that special relationship with Lynx fans. It was an awesome two years, so yeah, I’m excited.”
The last of the three games, appropriately, came against the Portland Fire and Bridget Carleton, the player who appeared in the most games for the Lynx of any of the former players (215) and also potentially grew the most during her time in Minnesota. Carleton arrived in Minneapolis as a rookie second-round draft pick who got cut by the Connecticut Sun four games into her career. Seven years and 262 3-pointers later, she left as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 Expansion Draft.
“I’m excited,” Carleton said prior to Monday night’s game in Minnesota. “Obviously, the fans here have shown me so much love over my seven years. They saw me go from a rookie who didn’t play at all to what happened last year and the year before. It’s just really cool, the evolution of my career here, and they stuck with me through it all. I’m excited. I hope I don’t get [too] emotional. I don’t think I will, but I’ll be excited.”
All four players got equal treatment. Time set aside during pregame intros, a tribute video of their exploits in a Lynx jersey on the screen, then a closeup of their faces as the crowd roared. The former Lynx either clapped along, waved to the crowd, or put their hands into a heart shape.
Similarly, all three games ended in blowout victories for Minnesota. That made it an easier task for the Lynx fans in attendance to show appreciation for the past — they could still feel pretty good about the present.
Now that Portland has visited the Target Center, every player currently on a WNBA roster who was part of Minnesota’s 2025 playoff run has returned. The joyful but still obligatory tribute videos and standing ovations have all been received. Any Lynx fan in need of a cathartic moment has gotten one or three. And they got them all without a single one of the games going to the loss column.
“I mean, if what you had was real, that’s what’s going to shine through,” Reeve said in the middle of this three-game stretch. “I think that’s what you’re seeing, our organization’s love for those players and what we did together. Certainly their love for our fan base, their teammates, the time that we shared together, the success that we had, you know, 64 wins in two seasons, a lot of good times. I suspect that’s what you’ll see.
“It’s also, you’re with a new team and that’s your focus. So, it’s not a long time that you think about it. I mean, enjoy the video, get a little bit from your fans and you move on. And we’ll have the same mindset as, you know, we’re both trying to beat each other tonight.”
For Lynx fans who experienced a terrible week or two in April, it made for a couple of pretty great weeks in June.
