WNBA playoffs: Lynx eschew superteam model to build with undervalued assets

When Alanna Smith looked around during Lynx training camp, she was taken aback. This team was good. Really, really good.

Their chemistry developed quickly, despite adding several new pieces. Smith, Courtney Williams, Natisha Hiedeman and Cecilia Zandalasini were all recent roster additions, but to Smith, it felt natural.

“Everything was flowing well,” Smith said. “We were playing so well together, which is rare for a team that’s just brought in new players. It’s hard to build chemistry, but we had it from the jump.”

Along with the realization that her team could be special, Smith had another thought, one related to her team being ranked ninth in WNBA preseason predictions.

“That’s bulls**t,” she said with a laugh. “We knew we were way better than that. We’ve continued to prove it.”

Aside from the New York Liberty, no team has been more consistent than the Lynx. They entered the postseason as the No. 2 seed, and throughout the season, Minnesota only lost back-to-back games twice.

It’s quite the jump from last season, when the Lynx finished 19-21 to earn the No. 5 seed and then lost to the Connecticut Sun in the first round of the playoffs. Now, they’re in a battle with Connecticut again — this time as the higher seed — fighting for a spot in the WNBA Finals.

“After last year, we knew we wanted to elevate our defensive prowess, and we also wanted to add another offensive weapon to help Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride,” Lynx general manager Clare Duwelius said. “We also wanted to add some overall depth.”

The Lynx managed to take their roster to the next level through a combination of castoffs, like Smith, who was cut by Indiana two seasons prior, and misfits, like Williams, who is single-handedly keeping the midrange game alive.

They also found a way to get more out of what they already had. Collier was always a star, but this season she took her play to a new level, finishing second in MVP voting. McBride is enjoying her best 3-point shooting performance in her 11-year career, and Bridget Carleton made a case for Most Improved Player, upping her production in every statistical category and earning a starting role.

There’s just something about this team that allows players to reach their full potential.

“Environment is really, really important,” Smith said. “How you play is really dependent on the situation that you’re in. I’ve just found myself in a really, really good environment, really good people who understand what my talent looks like.”

That wasn’t always the case for Smith. Over her first three years in the league, she struggled to find consistent playing time with the Mercury. Then in 2022, she was cut by the Fever after just 10 games. Last season with Chicago was a breakout for the Australian, as she posted her most minutes and highest scoring average since coming into the league. It’s also where she first bonded with Williams, her current teammate.

They endured a chaotic season in Chicago. Head coach James Wade left after 16 games to take an NBA assistant job, leaving the Sky with a roster he overhauled in the offseason without direction. They finished 13-27.

“We was in the trenches in Chicago,” Williams said with a laugh.

But in that tumultuous season, Williams and Smith connected, and the Lynx offered them the chance to build on their chemistry.

“I think what we played through last year makes what we are doing right now really worthwhile,” Smith said. “Adversity brings you to success.”

The duo were crucial in Minnesota’s win over Connecticut on Tuesday, evening the semifinal series at 1-1. Williams scored 17 points and Smith had 15. Without them, the Lynx would have floundered. Collier had trouble getting looks, finishing with 9 points, and McBride only scored 11.

Duwelius wanted to find a third scoring option in the offseason, but ended up finding two. They, along with Hiedeman, also fit the need for high-quality defenders.

“It wasn’t that one of them was going to be the solve for any of those things,” Duwelius said. “It was kind of a collective.”

The Lynx also found a way to elevate each player’s skillset.

Duwelius liked Smith because of her defensive skills. She’s been a solid defender throughout her time in the league, using her length and 6-foot-4 frame to guard multiple positions. In Minnesota’s system, Smith has helped her team become the second-best defensive squad in the league. She also earned All-Defensive honors for the first time in her career.

Her offensive game has flourished as well. Smith’s 3-point shooting percentage has risen from 29.4% in 2023 to 39.8% in 2024.

“I think it’s the style of play that’s helped me,” Smith said of her jump. “It’s like, very focused on IQ, like reading and reacting, on both ends, whether it’s defense or offense. We’ve got really smart players who just understand the game and don’t have to have the exact play written out for us to operate.”

Williams is tasked with running the offense, something she hasn’t done much of before. She’s not a point guard — Williams is adamant about that — but she’s played point guard this season. In their first conversation during the offseason, coach Cheryl Reeve told Williams she would be playing point.

Despite some hesitancy, Williams didn’t push back. She trusted Reeve, and it paid off. She’s averaging 5.5 assists per game — the second most of her career — and using her speed to find driving lanes, something that opens up the entire offense.

Williams is also thriving in the midrange. It’s always been a big part of her game, but with the Lynx, it’s become a major asset.

As a high schooler, Williams was small and always got fouled hard in the paint.

“My daddy told me to get a little middy so I wouldn’t get hurt,” she said with a laugh. “It kind of became my identity.”

This season she’s leading the league in midrange attempts with 6.9 per contest, while also shooting 46.2%, the best mark of her career.

Other players, like Carleton, aren’t new to the Lynx, but they are having newfound success this season. Her development has come down to patience and faith from the Lynx organization.

Carleton signed with Minnesota on a seven-day contract in 2019 after being cut by the Connecticut sun earlier in the season. She then earned a roster spot in 2020 and has been a part of the team ever since.

Each season has seen steady progression from the Canadian, and this season she’s hitting her stride. In 2023, Carleton played 15.1 minutes off the bench and averaged 3.2 points per contest. This season she’s playing 29.9 minutes per game as a starter and averaging 9.6 points per game. She’s also seen a major increase in shooting percentage, going from 35.5% to 44.4% from the field and 33.7% to 44.4% from beyond the arc.

“My coaching staff has always really trusted me, and this year I was able to really take advantage of that,” Carleton said. “The style we are playing this year, our five-out style, moving and sharing the ball, has been really helpful for my game and my confidence. It’s allowed me to be more aggressive.”

Smith, Williams and Carleton all agree that their success with Minnesota comes from the team’s overall mindset. Everything the Lynx do boils down to prioritizing team basketball.

“We’re so unselfish,” Smith said. “We know what everyone’s good at, or what other people’s best shots look like. If we know there’s a better shot to get, we’ll pass up a good shot for ourselves to get a great shot somewhere else.”

It’s an easy mindset for the Lynx to have, because Collier, their star player, is the embodiment of selflessness.

Collier has been the building block for this team since Sylvia Fowles retired in 2022. Everything Minnesota does centers around Collier, on both ends of the floor. The UConn grad anchored her team’s defense this year, covering both guards and bigs to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors. Her 20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks per game also led to Collier finishing second in MVP voting.

Collier went on a tear in the first two games of the playoffs, scoring 38 points in Game 1 and 42 in Game 2 to defeat the Mercury.

And though she is light years away from most players in the league in terms of talent, Collier never acts like it.

“She’s just so humble,” Williams said. “You would never know she’s a superstar because she just don’t act like that. I’ve been on a couple teams now, and the way she shows up every day, how relatable she is, how humble she is, Phee is different for sure.”

With Collier at the center and a group of hungry teammates around her, the Lynx were 19-8 by mid-August. But Duwelius and Reeve still felt something was missing. If they wanted to truly contend for a title, they’d need another post presence.

So they traded for Washington’s Myisha Hines-Allen and went 11-2 in the remainder of regular-season games.

Like most of the Lynx roster, Hines-Allen has spent her career as a high-level role player. She was in Washington from 2018 until this season and earned Second Team All-WNBA honors once, in 2020.

More importantly, she learned how to win. Hines-Allen was with the Mystics in 2019 when they won the WNBA title. Championship experience, according to Duwelius, was equally important to Hines-Allen’s overall skill.

Because that’s the most important thing to the Lynx: winning a WNBA championship. The organization is no stranger to the feat, winning titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. Those teams did it with a star-studded roster that included players like Maya Moore, Fowles, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus.

If this Minnesota squad is to hoist the trophy, it will be done in an entirely different fashion.

“We don’t have the flashiest names,” Smith said. “But we have players who work hard together and want to win together.”