Minnesota Lynx head to training camp with the same players and a whole new viewpoint

For the most part the names haven’t changed. But, at least from the start of WNBA training camp, expectations have.

“Our starting point is different,” Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

The Lynx open training camp Sunday, the first day of a whirlwind that will last just over two weeks, include two preseason games and cascade to the season opener May 16 at Dallas.

A year ago, Reeve and her players knew the Lynx had the potential to be a top-four team. But that was not a given and certainly wasn’t the view from the outside. Even Reeve didn’t know how quickly the team could reach the potential it had.

“Credit the players,” she said. “They got it together.”

The rest of the 2024 season was almost historic. The Lynx went 30-10 in the regular season and finished with the No. 2 seed, winning the Commissioner’s Cup in-season tournament along the way. They breezed past Phoenix in the playoffs’ first round, beat Connecticut in five games in the semifinals and made it to Game 5 of the WNBA Finals before falling to New York.

This year? The starting five of Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Alanna Smith, Bridget Carleton and Courtney Williams is back. Top backup guard Natisha Hiedeman is back, too. Diamond Miller, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, is healthy, having spent the offseason working on her game rather than working to get healthy. The Lynx signed veteran French center Marieme Badiane and traded for sharpshooter Karlie Samuelson.

“They believed in what they did together,” Reeve said. “So now, this year, that’s our starting place. Instead of trying to figure it out, that’s our starting place. Expectations, for sure. Our starting place is ahead of last year.”

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do and there aren’t decisions to make.

The luxury of having all five starters back means more time on the court and more work can be directed at developing a bench that will look different from last year’s.

A lot of that is based on Miller. Reeve is determined the bench will have an identity that works around Miller’s skills. She is expected to take many of the minutes played last year by Cecilia Zandalasini, who was taken by Golden State in the WNBA’s expansion draft.

They are much different players. Reeve wants to create depth on her roster that takes advantage of Miller’s athleticism and ability to get to the basket. Miller, Badiane and Samuelson will get a lot of time on the court together, and chemistry will have to be built.

This year? It might look like the second team is playing from a different playbook.

Settling on the final roster spots could produce some of the most intense competition in a Lynx training camp in years.

It appears up to 10 roster spots are spoken for: The five starters, along with Badiane, Samuelson, Miller, Hiedeman and Jessica Shepard, who is back with the team after taking the 2024 WNBA season off.

Reeve hasn’t decided whether the team will start the season with an 11- or 12-player roster; health could have an impact on that.

Either way, several players will compete for one or two spots. Last year’s first-round pick, Alissa Pili, will be fighting for a job. Ditto for guard Grace Berger, whose ability to play the point could work in her favor. Anastasiia Kosu, the athletic Russian forward taken with the 15th overall pick in the draft, could work herself into the picture, too. Dorka Juhász is finishing her season in Europe. It’s hard to see a Lynx team with both Juhász and Shepard on the roster.