Although the Minnesota Lynx were bounced in the semifinal round by the Seattle Storm to end their season, there were multiple familiar faces taking part in the WNBA Finals.
In the championship series between the second-seeded Seattle and top-seeded Las Vegas Aces, which concluded on Tuesday night, the Storm swept the Aces 3-0 in the best-of-5 series to win their second title in three years while tying the Lynx and Houston Comets for the most championships by a single franchise with four.
Throughout the entirety of the playoffs, and most notably in the Finals, a few former Lynx players took the court during the series and had strong showings for their squads.
Seattle forward Natasha Howard completed in her third season with the Storm in 2020, recording her second title in Seattle since joining the organization in 2018.
Howard was a key part to Minnesota’s second unit during the 2016 and 2017 seasons before she decided to join Seattle as a restricted free agent prior to the start of 2018. Howard was a part of the back-to-back Finals runs in Minnesota in 2016 and 2017, winning the title with the Lynx in 2017 when they defeated the Los Angeles Sparks to claim the organization’s fourth championship.
In three games in the WNBA Finals, Howard averaged 10.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.3 steals and 1.0 assist in 22 minutes per game in the starting lineup. She also shot 68.4 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from the free throw line.
Now, the seventh-year veteran forward has three WNBA titles on her resume: one with Minnesota and two with Seattle.
On the other side of the court, Las Vegas featured a pair of former Lynx players on its roster. One player who stepped up for the Aces throughout the postseason and during the WNBA Finals was point guard Danielle Robinson, who played in Minnesota for the last two seasons before leaving in free agency this offseason to sign with Las Vegas.
Robinson, playing in her ninth WNBA season, finished the three game championship series with an average of 7.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 29.3 minutes as the starting point guard. She also shot 40.9 percent from the field and 40 percent from three during the series.
The second former Lynx player on the Aces roster is Sugar Rodgers, who was drafted by Minnesota in the second round of the 2013 Draft and won a championship with the Lynx that year. In 11.7 minutes per game off the bench, the eighth-year guard averaged 3.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist, while shooting 25 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from three.
Even though Minnesota was no longer playing in the playoffs beyond the semifinal round, there were plenty of Lynx connections still on the floor battling out for a WNBA title. On Tuesday, that was claimed by Howard and the rest of a dominant Seattle squad to bring the 2020 season to a close.
