On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, newly minted Minnesota Lynx assistant coach Lindsay Whalen joins host Howard Megdal to talk about her long awaited return to the WNBA, how the women’s basketball landscape continues to evolve, and more.
First, they discussed the path Whalen took back to her former championship team:
“I think that the cool thing about what [head coach Cheryl Reeve] has built with the Lynx is … after I retired in 2018, we’ve had several different opportunities to be at Lynx games [and] honor different players, so we’ve all still kept in touch,” Whalen said. “And so I think then you see this team this year, it was really the first summer that I was truly kind of available. I mean, the other summers I would know what’s happening with the team, but I was so focused on recruiting and and things at [the University of Minnesota, where Whalen was head coach from 2018-2023] that you’re really watching from afar. And then this last summer was the first one that I was, like, truly available.”
‘Rare Gems’ is out now!
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. “Rare Gems” follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.
If you enjoy Megdal’s coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.”
“[The 2024 Lynx were] … a great team, and it was just a team that was a lot of fun to to watch and be a fan of and be an alumni of the franchise,” Whalen continued. “Every so often [I] would mainly text [Lynx assistant coach and former player Rebekkah Brunson], other than just little things here and there, because I know how busy it gets [for Reeve] when you’re the head coach, and [didn’t want to] inundate coach with different things other than support. … I also went from starting the wave in Game Four to now, the bench. I’m not sure I’ll be necessarily doing that next season, which is fine, but I’m really, just really thrilled with the opportunity. And we’ve hit the ground running and I’ve had a good essentially two and a half weeks here and getting my kind of footing back on really being in the league, and in the meetings, and kind of back in the trenches, so to speak, with a WBA franchise, it’s just been awesome.”
They also talked about what Whalen’s role might look like, especially as she works alongside her former teammate Rebekkah Brunson, who has been an assistant coach for the Lynx since 2020, and former Mystics head coach Eric Thibault.
“It’ll be whatever [Reeve] thinks is best, and as we kind of get in and get together, I’m sure she has an idea, and I have an idea, of kind of where I’ll be. But until you get into where you’re just working daily and see, [the] strengths and different things that that people bring, I think that this next several months of just being together as a staff will be really vital for [Reeve] to really kind of pinpoint where we’ll all be best suited and where … kind of our areas will be,” Whalen said. “[Reeve is] very collaborative. And you know, you have to be ready for any type of a role … you kind of have to be ready for anything on any given day to be able to, whether it’s personnel groupings, whether it’s drills and schemes you run in practice, whether it’s scouting, I just think … in this day and age, you just really have to be pretty flexible and knowing everybody on the staff for a long time, as far as the coaches, … that’s how everybody is. I think it’ll be a lot of fun, and it has been a lot of fun.”
Tune in to hear more from Lindsay Whalen and Megdal’s discussion about the ever evolving landscape of women’s basketball and what Whalen is most looking forward to about being back in the women’s professional game. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
