Napheesa Collier's coming free agency is "a Fi decision," Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said, using Collier's nickname. "And that is probably more than basketball." Collier is on a one-year deal. Reeve said both sides will be okay whatever she decides.
"I could sit up here and sandbag my ass off... But no, we take the opposite route." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said she embraces high expectations rather than playing them down as the team chases a fifth championship.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said "everybody could see Napheesa Collier wasn't Napheesa Collier" after she returned from double ankle surgery without time with her team. Of Dorka Juhasz, hurt in April just before joining: "she just never found her footing with us."
"No one wanted to play at 270. No one." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve called free agency under the new labor deal "a full-on money grab," and existing contracts can't be restructured. Her core can still win a title, she said: "They need more help though."
"You have to put the ball in the hole. You have to. And we were an impatient offense." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said defense was not what sank her team in the series against New York. The offense was.
"Size that shoots 3s and can pass and can defend and rebound. That's what I'm looking for." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, asked whether size is an offseason priority, pointed out that both of the team's biggest players were hurt this season.
"We have a player in Nia Coffey who had a great season. That's our starting point." Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve named Coffey as the base of the supporting cast around her core, and said Maya Caldwell gave the team "some really good things."
Kayla McBride said her season wasn't enough. Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve disagreed: "I don't know that she can be more than what she's been. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Natasha Howard isn't retiring. Asked if she plans to return to Minnesota next season: "Absolutely." Her offseason won't be in China, where she won a title: "I'm going to Turkey. I'll be playing in Gala." She also called this "one of the best seasons I've had so far."
Olivia Miles had "a bit of a spiral" in the playoffs, and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve blamed herself for how she used Miles against New York's bigs: "We just couldn't get it reprogrammed" after Game 1. On the exit: "We didn't meet the moment. I look inward."
Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride were missing departed teammates in training camp, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve recalled, so she told Williams the focus was on who is here: "Remember, Court, you were real happy for everybody... Now stand in your shit, right?"
Minnesota's Napheesa Collier said she wasn't 100% after returning from ankle surgery, but "I feel confident that I'll be able to get back to my normal 100." She hasn't been able to build her game since spring 2025 and plans offseason work on ball handling and 3-point shooting.
"I think we the undersized team, I believe, in the league." Natasha Howard said New York's size, with post players of 6'6 and 6'10 plus Breanna Stewart at 6'5, kept the Minnesota Lynx from scoring in the paint in the series.
Courtney Williams wants Napheesa Collier back with the Lynx: "I would love for Fi to come back. Of course, they're my dogs." But she said Collier has to do what's best for her. Williams, glad to skip free agency herself, compared it to "getting picked in gym."
Olivia Miles said she played not to lose in the playoffs: "it was more of a scarcity mindset." The Minnesota Lynx guard said she went from a rookie nobody expected much of to MVP conversations, and a playoff loss came to feel like the end of the world.
Kayla McBride says she'll be back with the Lynx next season, brushing off the retirement talk that comes up every offseason: "I still have a lot more to give, like, between those 4 lines. And I'm excited to do it." First, she wants to rest after a 44-to-46-game season.
Napheesa Collier's free agency: Lynx teammate Kayla McBride wants her back. "I don't want that to be my last game with Fi. And she knows that." She wants Collier to choose what's best for herself, and objected that speculation began within 24 hours of the season ending.
Cheryl Reeve said the Lynx roster may not be built for the playoffs. Kayla McBride agrees: "she's right. I think we won 80-some percent of our games in the regular season, and we don't have much to show for it." She said a late-season slide carried into the playoffs.