How Mikayla Pivec can fit in Minnesota

Subscribe to make sure this vital work, creating a pipeline of young, diverse media professionals to write, edit and photograph the great game, continues and grows. Paid subscriptions include some exclusive content, but the reason for subscriptions is a simple one: making sure our writers and editors creating 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage get paid to do it.

Over the weekend, the Minnesota Lynx announced the signing of Mikayla Pivec to the team’s training camp roster. The 23-year-old guard was originally drafted 25th overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft but chose to sit out of the 2020 season for personal reasons. 

Pivec played for the Oregon State Beavers and was named to the All-Pac-12 team for three straight seasons and to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. In her final year at Oregon, she set the school’s career record for rebounds. She started 117 of the 126 games she played, averaging 7.7 rebounds, 12.2 points, and 3.8 assists per game. 

During the WNBA offseason, Pivec played overseas, signing with Promote in Spain, and appeared in 15 games with an average of 14.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

Head Coach and General Manager Cheryl Reeve loves rebounding guards. Her success with former Lynx-guard Lindsay Whalen is proof of that — the pair won four WNBA championships in seven years together.

Mikayla Pivec joins a long list of guards competing for roster spots with the Lynx this year. During free agency, the Lynx also signed former Las Vegas guard Kayla McBride and Washington Mystics’ Aerial Powers. It’ll be interesting to see how the young guard matches up against these veterans and who makes the final cut.