The Minnesota Lynx will be adding a new face to the organization for the 2019 WNBA season.
The organization announced Friday — which is the first day that free agents are able to officially sign with teams this offseason — that it has signed free agent Karima Christmas-Kelly to a contract.
Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis-Star Tribune was the first to report the news of Minnesota agreeing to terms with Christmas-Kelly on Thursday night.
Christmas-Kelly, a 29-year-old veteran with nine years of experience in the WNBA, is currently an unrestricted free agent after spending the last three seasons with the Dallas Wings. Prior to her stop in Dallas, she played for Tulsa and Indiana, winning a WNBA title in 2012 when the Fever took down the Lynx in the WNBA Finals.
The enticing thing when it comes to Christmas-Kelly is her ability to play multiple positions while filing some current holes that the Lynx hold at the present time.
Christmas-Kelly, a 6-foot wing, can play at both the shooting guard and small forward positions, which would be a nice addition considering the speculation surrounding Maya Moore’s playing status with the Lynx this summer.
Christmas-Kelly only appeared in six games for Dallas while dealing with injuries in 2018, where she recorded averages of 9.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 27.8 minutes per game. Over the course of her career, she has averaged 8.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals, tallying a 37.6 shooting percentage from the field while also being able to stretch her game beyond the arc, shooting 44.4 percent from three.
The Lynx being aggressive by signing a free agent right at the start of free agency isn’t necessarily that surprising, considering Minnesota has more flexibility than it has had in years past mainly due to the salary freed up by the retirement of Lindsay Whalen.
Along with the apparent addition of Christmas-Kelly, the Lynx are also expected to retain unrestricted free agents Seimone Augustus and Rebekkah Brunson at some point during the offseason. Minnesota will have to make a decision on prior to the season on current free agents Cecilia Zandalasini, Anna Cruz, Sydney Colson and Erlana Larkins.
This addition of Christmas-Kelly certainly has the ability to help the Lynx in multiple ways during 2019 and Minnesota may continue to be aggressive throughout the offseason, especially considering they hold the sixth, 16th, 18th, 20th and 30th overall picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft.
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