Cheryl Reeve Named WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year

Mon, Oct 12, 2026, 11:08 AM

Minneapolis/St. Paul – The WNBA today announced that Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve has been named the 2026 WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year. The honor marks the third of her career (2019, 2024) and the second time she has swept both Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year honors (2024). 

Reeve wrapped up her 17th season as Minnesota’s head coach and fourth as president of basketball operations, guiding the Lynx to a league-best 33-11 record and the No. 1 overall seed in the WNBA Playoffs. Entering the 2026 season, Reeve returned WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, five-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist forward Napheesa Collier, along with All-Star guards Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams, while also signing free agent forward and three-time WNBA Champion Natasha Howard. In April, Reeve selected WNBA Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. 

Under Reeve, the Lynx ranked second in the league in net rating (9.1), third in offensive rating (115.0) and fourth in defensive rating (103.5). Minnesota also ranked second in steals (9.1) and third in assists (21.9) and opponent field goal percentage (43.5%). The Lynx recorded a WNBA-record 18 road wins and went on a 10-game winning streak from July 11-Aug. 12, the franchise’s longest since 2016. Reeve became the WNBA’s all-time winningest head coach on July 8 with her 380th career win and finished the season with 397 regular-season victories. She also earned WNBA Coach of the Month honors for June and served as an All-Star head coach for the fifth time in her career at the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago in July. 

Cheryl Reeve Named WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year

(***for a friend***)

If anyone has a spare set of the promotional Liv goggles they were giving out on the September 18th Noche Latina game vs. the Liberty, I will gladly pay $$.

One of my friends is a huge Lynx fan (she went to like 7 or 8 games this year) but she didn't get a set of the goggles when we went to that game. I got my pair by bargaining with someone who had multiple, but she won't take the pair I have as a gift even though she's a more dedicated and deserving fan than I am.

If you're feeling generous and want to help ensure a super-deserving super-fan gets a sick little piece of memorabilia, let's talk!

Pic for attention (and proof I already have a pair, and not just telling a fake sob story)

I made this custom painted garage game table for my buddy like a decade ago when we had season tix and now moving. Don’t have a spot for it anymore. It was made for the dimensions of slap cup (beer pong meets speed quarters). It can be taken apart to bring to tailgating.

My wife and I wanted to get 1/2 season tickets this year, but looking at the packages there are cheaper tickets in the 100 section for full season. Is there any reason to not do a full season in the light purple section? Are these obstructed view?

Also, how easy is it to resell tickets if I can’t make a game? Not looking to get full value for them, just get a little back.

I’m probably gonna downvoted for this but after seeing the Liberty get swept we have to face the music. We all need to be brutally honest about this team. This team is far away from being a contender. We don’t need marginal improvement a good chunk of the roster has to be overturned.

3x WNBA All-Star Courtney Williams is celebrating a major career milestone by giving back to the people who supported her from the beginning. After signing a two-year, $2.4 million deal under the WNBA’s new CBA, Williams became the first millionaire in her family. She revealed that she used the milestone to buy each of her parents a new home, turning her career success into a life-changing gift for her family.

• That's awesome!
• https://www.threads.com/share/IXYKa1KK7/

The Coffey family signed a franchise agreement with Chicken Salad Chick last year, and their first store is opening soon in Maple Grove, with other Minnesota locations to follow.

it is hard to find good chicken salad. everyone i know makes the fatal error of putting onions in it 🚫 🌰

The playoffs have been super entertaining. I might just root for the underdogs, but that’s just me.

I like playing around with WNBA stats and have noticed some patterns about the Lynx offense since our 2026 massive roster overhaul that I was curious to get others’ thoughts on:

2024/2025 roster height and regular season shot selection:

Starters

PG - Courtney Williams 5’8. 2024: 63.2% Mid-Range FGA & 15.7% 3PT FGA. 2025: 50.1% Mid-Range FGA & 25.6% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SG - Kayla McBride 5’11. 2024: 62.3% 3PT FGA. 2025: 60.9% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SF - Bridget Carleton 6’2. 2024: 72.1% 3PT FGA. 2025: 66.5% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

PF - Napheesa Collier 6’1. 2024: 59.6% FGA in the paint & 22% Mid-Range FGA & 18% 3PT FGA. 2025: 59.4% FGA in the paint & 16.6% Mid-Range FGA & 24% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

C(ish) - Alanna Smith 6’4. 2024: 41% FGA in restricted area & 38% 3PT FGA. 2025: 39.6% FGA in restricted area & 49% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

Key Bench Contributors:

PG/SG 2024 & 2025 - Natisha Hiedeman 5’8. 2024: 31.25% FGA in the restricted area & 42.7% 3PT FGA. 2025: 33.9% FGA in the restricted area & 40.4% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SF 2024 - Cecilia Zandalisini 6’2. 2024: 50.2% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

F/C 2024 - Myisha Hines Allen 6’2. 2024: 51.2% FGA in the restricted area. Most frequent shot type: layup.

F/C 2024 - Dorka Juhasz 6’5. 2024: 63.2% FGA in the paint & 23.6% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: layup.

F/C 2025 - Jessica Shepard 6’4. 2025: 81% FGA in the paint & 2.5% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: layup.

SF 2025 - Dijonai Carrington 5’11. 2025: 64.6% FGA in the paint & 26% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

F/C 2025 - Maria Kliundikova 6’4. 2025: 62% FGa in the paint & 19.5% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: layup.

2026 roster height and regular season shot selection:

Starters

PG - Olivia Miles 5’10. 43.7% FGA in the restricted area & 29% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: layup.

SG - Courtney Williams 5’8. 53.9% Mid-Range FGA & 24% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SF - Kayla McBride 5-11. 20% FGA in the restricted area and 55.2% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

PF - Napheesa Collier 6’1. 59% FGA in the paint & 26.7% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

C - Natasha Howard 6’2. 65.8% FGA in the restricted area & 5.3% Mid-Range FGA & 3.6% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: layup.

Key Bench Contributors:

SF/PF Nia Brodie 6’1. 61% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SG Maya Caldwell 5’11. 50% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

PG Aari MacDonald 5’6. 47% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

F/C Dorka Juhasz 6’5. 64.1% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

SF Antonia Delaere 5’11. 67% 3PT FGA. Most frequent shot type: jump shot.

TLDR

The offense shifted massively from one in 2024 & 2025 where three starters shot heavily from the perimeter (McBride, Carleton, and to a lesser but still significant extent Smith) to one where only one did (McBride). In 2026, the paint was easily crowded.

The shift in the bench players’ role is even more surprising: in 2024 & 2025, the offense gave bench players opportunities to take layups and other, easier shots. In 2026, bench players were used to provide spacing and bench production depended a lot more on the success of their 3PAs.

The team also lost a lot of size. Not only in the 4/5 rotation, where the team used to have a 6’4 starter and then at least one but maybe even two 6’4 and taller options off the bench, but also in the 3 rotation.

Which leads me to: we don’t talk enough about how the loss of Bridget Carleton changed the Lynx schemes. As a 6’2 3&D wing, she did a lot of space the floor for Phee and had the mobility and size to make life hard on the perimeter. Tiring Kayla McBride out by making her chase the opposing team’s best offensive threat on the perimeter is also less than ideal.

Going forward, the team should be in the hunt for tall 3PT shooters (yes, like everyone else). 3 of 4 of the teams in the semifinals had more 3PAs per game in the regular season than the Lynx, and while playoffs are match-up dependent if we just ‘run it back’ with these starters we risk another exit because we are too short to contest 3PAs launched by tall shooters and also too dependent on 2s to make it back into the game when the other team is making their 3s.

New Substack!

Lynx season recap!

Just part of the mourning process! Enjoy and move forward with me!

felt that with the bitterness of the first round exit, we needed something other than another napheesa collier UFA or "future of the franchise" post.

the wolves just rebranded obviously, and they did a remarkable job with it. and at least in the last rebrand for the lynx, they mirrored the wolves branding. now that it doesn't match, do you think the lynx also rebrand, or will they stick with the existing logo, colors and uniform? and if they do rebrand, is it going to be another move to mirror the wolves, or will they take the branding in an independent direction again, kind of like they did from the start all the way through to the mid-2010s?

personally, i'd love to see the front-facing lynx face come back, and the new wordmark from the rebel edition jerseys to be the new font and typeface for the team. and the current white and blue uniforms should absolutely go... just like the wolves' iterations of those, they're bland and generic looking. wouldn't hurt to see a color scheme change either!

Napheesa Collier's offseason dilemma starts now.

After the top-seeded Lynx's first-round exit, Collier faces a major free-agency decision. She says it's not on her mind yet, but everyone will want her, and everyone will be able to afford her.

Read for free.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I’m perfectly okay with moving this franchise fully in the direction of a roster that’s tailor made and suited for Olivia Miles. We need to get YOUNGER, BIGGER, more ATHLETIC and have a transition type offense much like the Fever (without the drama).

-If Phee walks that frees 1.4M up in space

-I assume we won’t retain Dorka so that’s another 350k

- I would entertain moving on from Courtney (and I love her dearly) if we could get minimal salary back and some sort of draft capital. Perhaps a couple of 2nd round picks with little to no money coming back. (Washington would be a team to target to make that happen, need a vet guard for a young playoff team). You free up maybe 800k-1M in salary.

(With the money freed up some targets and the amounts are)

Rae Burrell 26 year old: 2.1M/ 3 years (700k average)

Awak Kuier 25 year old: 2.4/ 3 years (800k average)

Aari McDonald 28 years old: 750k / 2 years (350k per)

Resign Emma Cechova to 1.2M/ 3 years (400k per)

Here is my big one:

Try and Acquire Cameron Brink for a trade package that involves a 2027 first round pick and a 2028 first round pick. I truly believe she’s worth that.

Depth Chart

Olivia Miles/ Aari McDonald
Kayla McBride/ Vet Min
Rae Burrell/ Nia Brodie
Awak Kuier/ Emma Cechova/ Ola Kosu
Cam Brink/ Natasha Howard

Maybe the problem is social media, and these days I spend a lot less time there. But the animosity people have for Miles is so much greater than I could have anticipated. Like, people are outright GLEEFUL over her underperformance in the playoffs.

Why? Why the fuck? She is a rookie. She has only been a pro for 3 months, not long enough to really worm their way into someone's subconscious as a true threat / enemy. She may have had a spectacular rookie season, but the key word there is rookie. How could she have possibly done much of anything in just 3 months to make people outright HATE her?

Has she done anything extracurricular to annoy anyone? Far as I can tell, she has not exactly pulled a Sophie Cunningham and has not meaningfully commented on anything political at all. So it's not that.

She's not a whiner, either. I won't say she has never confronted a ref over her foul call, but that is for sure not typical behavior for her at all, so it can't be that either.

I think it is one of two things:

1) She is a black woman, whereas the most popular athlete in the WNBA is a white woman. And when a white fan sees her white queen get overshadowed, to any extent, by a black woman, that is DEEPLY unsettling for this white fan. A common theme of the hateful comments directed towards Liv is to point out how CC did better than Liv in this or that stat category as a rookie. Others point out how Liv liked a comment somewhere that said Liv was better than CC, and boy do the CC fans ever HATE that.

2) People are mad at Cheryl for her activism and thus will just gladly and openly spread their hate to anyone associated with her. And no other Lynx player has gotten more media attention than Liv this season. So basically hate by association.

I mean what other explanation is there for hating *her*, specifically? If any fans wanted to be upset with the Lynx for their admittedly lousy performance at the end of the season, why the fuck would they blame the ROOKIE, not the VETERANS, like our MVPhee at the very least?

It's been incredibly frustrating and honestly sickening to observe. She's such a tremendous athlete, a great influence, and fun as hell to watch. She has done nothing but make Lynx basketball and basketball in general more fun to watch, so honestly the negativity directed towards her really pisses me off.

Yeah, it wasn't the ending we all wanted. But this woman has been incredible and I am grateful for her for sharing her gifts with us.

I’m seeing a lot of people saying Phee is staying, or she’s already decided to leave. I truly think Phee hasn’t made any decisions yet. I think she would be open to staying, and open to leaving. I truly think she will see what teams offer her, what the Lynx offer her and make a decision then. I also don’t think Cheryl knows what she wants to offer Phee yet given that she needs to make roster changes and bring in more size. I get that people like to speculate but I truly believe nothing has been decided yet.

See kids - the title of these end of season exit interviews are just that. Some players come back, some don't - it is the exit of these players from this version of the Lynx. Next year's Lynx will be different, we all know that. #24 for ever.

One of my 12 favorite Lynx...