After the season, Alanna Smith spoke about the unique chemistry on the Minnesota Lynx roster.
“It’s so rare to have a team like that with the culture and mindset but also have success on top of it,” she said, “It’s kinda like the fairy tale of the basketball world.”
Minnesota’s Cinderella story ended in a Game 5 67-62 overtime loss on October 20. It was a gut-wrenching loss that ended in controversy.
“It’s easy to appreciate of this team and to see how special this season was,” said Napheesa Collier. “I think that loss is something I’ll never get over.”
Courtney Williams echoed Collier’s sentiment.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “Definitely not the ending that we wanted, so yeah, kinda been down in the dumps, I’m not going to lie.”
Cheryl Reeve said the loss will cause her to step away from basketball to process what had happened.
“You won’t be able to find me for a while,” she said. “I’m going to truly shut down for the first time in I don’t know how long.”
The devastating loss took its toll on the team. As the offseason begins, some players will play overseas in the winter leagues, while others will stay in the United States to play in Napheesa Colliers’ co-founded unrivaled league.
Eventually, as enough time passes, the pain will begin to subside. When that happens, the Lynx should be able to look back fondly on their 2024 run and, more importantly, look forward to 2025.
The 2024 season started with the Lynx ranking ninth in ESPN’s preseason rankings. Michael Voepel wrote it was due to the Lynx “being ninth in the WNBA in scoring average and next to last in points allowed.”
The Lynx surpassed expectations early, going 4-0 to start the season and turning that into a 16-4 start to the year. They entered the Olympic break leading the WNBA in defensive rating at 93.7. However, due to Collier’s injury, their record would slip, and they would end the first half of the season at 17-8.
After the break, the Lynx played nearly perfect, finishing with a 13-2 record. The season ended with the Lynx owning the second-best record in the WNBA at 30-10. It would mark the most wins in franchise history and their best winning percentage since their 2017 championship run.
Collier won the Defensive Player of the Year award and finished second in MVP voting, cementing her status on the all-WNBA first team. Smith garnered an all-defensive second-team award.
In the playoffs, the Lynx swept the Phoenix Mercury 2-0. They outlasted the Connecticut Sun 3-2 before falling to the Liberty. During their postseason run, Collier ascended to a new level of greatness.
She broke almost every WNBA record, including most points total in a single postseason and most stocks (steals/blocks) in a single postseason. She also scored 80 points in the two-game series against the Mercury, marking the most points scored in a two-game stretch and tying the WNBA playoff record for most points in a single game at 42.
“We need to remind ourselves,” said Bridget Carleton, “that this is not normal, what she’s doing.”
Looking to the future, the Lynx have more than just Collier; they are the only WNBA team to have their 2024 starting five under contract for the 2025 season. Myisha Hines-Allen and Natisha Hiedeman are the only rotation players who are not under contract. Hiedeman and Hines-Allen have spoken about how much they enjoyed playing for the Lynx.
Due to the expansion draft and free agency, it’s unlikely the same team will return. Still, their starting five will return, encouraging Minnesota’s ability to replicate its 2024 success. The most encouraging sign for the Lynx moving forward may be how the 2024 season ended. They should come back even more motivated.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about how you handle things,” said Reeve. “You wish you could give them a good answer of to why it happened. … We told our team the only choice we had was to use it as fuel.”
Collier is already using the pain from Game 5 as fuel.
“It motivates me to never,” she said, “have the game that close again.”
Minnesota’s opponents will not overlook them in the sequel to the 2024 fairy tale. Next year, they should be an elite team built on chemistry. When the Lynx return for training camp after the long winter, fans should expect an even hungrier team led by Collier. It sounds like she will be on a revenge tour, motivated by the ending of 2024 and vowing never to have a game be that close again.
