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2021 season recap
The Minnesota Lynx finished the 2021 season with a 22-10 record to finish in third place overall in the WNBA. The team made several high-profile free agent signings, started poorly (0-4), made an early season-changing pickup of Layshia Clarendon, and overcame several injuries to finish strong. Unfortunately, they lost a win-or-go-home playoff game to the eventual WNBA Champion Chicago Sky.
See 2021 Reflections and 2022 Forecasts: Minnesota Lynx for a complete recap.
High points
Sylvia Fowles won her fourth WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award, averaged a double-double, and was named to the W25 Greatest Players in League History team.
The Lynx led the league in two-point percentage largely due to Fowles hitting 64% of her shots from inside the arc, tops in the W.
Low points
Injuries were a major talking point starting almost immediately on May 1 when it was announced that first-round draft pick Rennia Davis would miss the entire season. Natalie Achonwa, Aerial Powers, Jessica Shepard, Damiris Dantas, and Layshia Clarendon all missed at least 25% of the season due to various injuries.
The team started 0-4 with Napheesa Collier still fulfilling overseas commitments for most of those games.
The team ranked 9th in turnover rate (16.3%).
2022 season
Notable additions:
Angel McCoughtry
On Feb. 2, the Lynx signed free agent Angel McCoughtry. Although sidelined last year with Las Vegas with a torn ACL and meniscus, McCoughtry flourished during her 2020 campaign with the Aces. She led the league in points per 40 minutes (28.8), was second in PER (29.1), third in usage rate (29.5%), fifth in individual defensive rating (93.6), and 10th in individual offensive rating (117.3) while shooting a career-high 51.8%.
McCoughtry is a WNBA legend. She was Rookie of the Year in 2009, a five-time All-Star, and was recently named to the W25, giving the Lynx two active players on that list. If she can stay healthy, her basketball and leadership skills can be an important part of the Lynx season.
Odyssey Sims
On May 3, three days before the start of the season, the Lynx announced they had signed free agent guard Odyssey Sims. Sims returns to the team after playing with them in 2019 and 2020. In her first season with the Lynx, Sims started all 34 games, had nine games with 20 or more points, scored in double figures 20 times, and was named an All-Star. Sims played with the Atlanta Dream last season and played in the Athletes Unlimited league as well.
Notable Subtractions
The May 3 releases
Also on May 3, the Lynx announced they released Layshia Clarendon, 2020 Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield, 2021 first-round draft pick Rennia Davis, Yvonne Turner, and 2022 draft picks Hannah Sjerven and Kayla Jones.
Although everyone knew roster cuts were coming, these specific moves may have been a surprise to many. However, Head Coach/GM Cheryl Reeve recently dropped some hints that she was not completely satisfied with the roster.
The Lynx split their two preseason games against the Washington Mystics and the Las Vegas Aces. The May 1 Aces game included a 30-14 4th quarter to overcome a 13-point deficit in the 89-86 victory.
Reeve expressed some concerns after that game:
I've got some work to do on the roster to sort of figure this out. And, you know, clearly, defense was pretty rough with that first group. Their connectedness was pretty off today.
How do you pick each other up? Understanding that Syl is the face of this franchise and every time you come down, if you're not thinking about Syl, you don't understand how to play the game. She shoots 67% from there. But if you also don't understand that Syl is, you know, Megatron as I've said many times and you continue to throw the ball at a six-foot level. Now it's starting to feel like to me that we have people that aren't good enough and we're gonna find people that are good enough to make those plays.
The Lynx will need to add two players as hardship roster exceptions to start the season due to Kayla McBride being overseas and Damiris Dantas still out with a Lisfranc injury being out for some time.
There is a chance that at least one of the players waived on May 3rd could come back. Reeve said Clarendon’s situation was more injury-related than any issues with her performance and also complimented Rennia Davis on her rebounding in the game.
Reeve said of Yvonne Turner on May 1st: Her energy, you know she's a vet. Every time she plays, the definition of leaving it all out there, Vonnie, leaves it all out there. Does she play a perfect game? No. But man, does she help our team and she's somebody that you have a young group that can follow so she was perfect for them.
Napheesa Collier
Collier is out for the foreseeable future due to having her first child later this month. She is most definitely in the team’s plans as she was signed to a contract extension on May 2.
A two-way threat, Collier led the team in scoring last season and trailed only Fowles in steals and blocks. In a May 5 media event for the signing, Collier said: “I’m going to try everything I can to come back and be able to play with Syl for her last year. I miss playing, I want to be back on the court. So I’m going to do everything afterwards to prepare my body to do that.”
Key players:
Sylvia Fowles
Fowles has announced that this is her final season playing in the WNBA. In 2021, at age 36, Fowles led the league in field goal percentage and was second in rebounds, steals, and blocks per game. She was third in PER, third in individual defensive rating, and seventh in individual offensive rating. Reeve has called her the greatest true center in league history and for good reason. She is the league’s all-time leading rebounder and, when healthy, is almost unstoppable down low on the offensive end and makes it very difficult on the defensive end for opponents to get the ball inside.
Fowles would love to go out as a champion, and nearly every Lynx player on media day said they wanted to do their best to make that happen. They are all honored to play with Syl not just because of her great ability, but because she is truly a great person.
Reeve is also doing her best to have Syl’s last season be a success with roster moves like signing veterans McCoughtry and Sims. She said on May 1, “We're going to give Syl the best team around her. And we're going to have a team that's going to go and play their asses off to be successful for Syl. She deserves the very best.”
Kayla McBride
McBride joined the Lynx as a free agent last year and did quite well. She ranked fourth in the league in points per play and committed the sixth-fewest turnovers per game all while averaging 13.7 points per contest. She is likely out until the latter part of May due to overseas commitments with her team in Turkey.
Aerial Powers
Two separate injuries sidelined Powers for all but 14 games last season; however, she scored in double figures in 10 of them and averaged almost 19 points per game across the last six games of the regular season. She was fifth in the league in points per 40 minutes (24.4) by averaging 13.4 points in 22 minutes per game. On Lynx media day Powers said, “I feel ready to go on all cylinders.”
Expectations
Something Reeve mentioned often last season was that the team did not have a good training camp, and players did not report in shape which led to the 0-4 start. This season, Reeve and players have said training camp was much better than last year. GM Reeve has added proven veterans in an effort to have a strong start, which can be the difference come playoff time. The Lynx have great personnel. If they can start reasonably well until McBride returns, there are no major injuries, and the bench performs well, they could be in a position to send Sylvia Fowles out on a high note.
Editor’s note: A previous version of the article stated that Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride were playing overseas during Minnesota’s 0-4 start last season. Kayla McBride was actually with the Lynx during the stretch.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.