Olivia Miles and the Minnesota Lynx have been an instant match in a WNBA season of change
This article was originally published on Yahoo Sports.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Olivia Miles could hardly have found a better place to launch her WNBA career.
The Minnesota Lynx might well have landed their latest franchise player.
In a season of transition and transformation across the league, coach Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx have shrugged off the loss of a big chunk of their formidable 2025 team to start 5-2 and take sole possession of first place after a surgical victory over Atlanta on Wednesday.
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With star Napheesa Collier sidelined following ankle surgery and five of the top eight players from last year gone, Miles has calmly and confidently taken over as the point guard for a title contender. That’s an uncommon situation for the second overall pick in the draft, but there’s nothing ordinary about Miles.
“She has this pause and burst that’s really, really special. She plays with her eyes so well. Her manipulation of defenders is like no player I’ve ever seen,” said Reeve, who has started her 17th season as head coach and fourth with the dual role of president of basketball operations. “There’s just so many places she can go from a tempo standpoint, to help us play a little faster.”
Off to a strong start
Miles, an All-American who led TCU to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament two months ago after putting off the draft by a year and transferring from Notre Dame for her final college season, had 21 points and eight assists in her WNBA debut for the Lynx three weeks ago. She was the first rookie guard to start the opener for Minnesota since Monica Wright in 2010.
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Miles has scored in double digits in all seven games, the longest streak to start a season for a Lynx rookie since Seimone Augustus had nine straight 10-plus-point games in 2006. Miles is the fourth player in league history to average at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists through her first seven career games, following Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Candace Parker.
“I always kind of think to myself that I’ve got this,” Miles said. “I always have to walk on the court with that energy, especially as a point guard, in the most humble and confident way, just being the leader on the court and trusting in my work and what I can do.”
Fitting in just fine
Miles has repeatedly been able to use her vision and quickness to get to the rim, pleasantly surprised to find more open space in the lane than in the college game. She has seamlessly formed a productive pick-and-roll duo with newcomer Natasha Howard, too. Playing defense for the demanding Reeve, who desires intense ball pressure from her guards, has been the steepest learning curve, but Miles has by all measures handled herself well on that end of the floor.
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She has the right personality to fit in with a veteran team, too.
“I have to have the confidence to speak up and to let my game flow and get my teammates open and reassure them that everything’s going to be OK,” Miles said.
She is a cat lover and a self-proclaimed video game nerd who seeks regular time outside in nature as an antidote to the high-pressure environment she’s in on the court. The native of New Jersey is proud of her roots, too: She had the names of her parents and brother sewn into the suit she wore to the draft.
The bookish look Miles sports with goggles on the court and glasses off of it is not for show, either. Smarts run in the family, with her mother Maria (chemical) and father Yakubu (software) both engineers by trade.
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For the foreseeable future, Miles will be a professional basketball player, a “generational point guard” that Reeve coveted in the draft. She had one a decade ago in Lindsay Whalen, who just happens to be an assistant coach on the staff. Miles promised Whalen she’d pepper her with questions about playing the position in the league and for Reeve, and soon after the draft she was looking up Whalen highlights to refresh her memory of her style and skills.
“She wants to get better. She wants to work every single day,” Whalen said. “I love her energy.”
With only four returning players from last season’s final roster, Minnesota is tied with Washington for the fewest among the non-expansion teams in the league. That includes Collier, who has yet to play. So while there’s plenty being asked of this rookie right away, Miles has already endured her share of challenges, from a torn ACL that kept her out of action for more than a year at Notre Dame to the criticisms that came her way after she left for TCU.
“I learned my self-worth and to bet on yourself in moments where it may seem risky or it may not work out, and look where I’m at now?” Miles said. “I’m just so grateful that I waited one more year, or else I wouldn’t be here.”
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