Locked On Women’s Basketball: Can the Minnesota Lynx get back to the WNBA Finals?

First, they talked about how the Minnesota Lynx defied early expectations last year to make it all the way to the league’s championship game:

“They did have a lot of new pieces last year,” Horstman said. “I’ll just say, in my power rankings, I did have them as fourth, the consensus around the league was nine. … I think they were pretty undersold even in preseason. And they all mentioned that they had heard that noise, and whether that was needed fuel or they were going to be that good anyway, I think is irrelevant. But they were pretty good right away … when it’s day one, day two of training camp, it’s kind of like the first day of school. You haven’t gotten homework yet, things haven’t gotten hard yet. It’s just kind of fun to be around your friends. And everyone from coach Cheryl Reeve and all the way down the roster, everyone was talking about the chemistry in a way that you had to pay attention to. I think all of us who are on the beat had multiple pieces written about that early in the process because they seemed genuine in the way that they were building chemistry pretty quickly. And it clicked.”

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“They were pretty good right out of the gate. And then it was a little bit of, ‘oh, at some point maybe the other shoe is going to drop. Someone’s going to get hurt.’ [Napheesa Collier] did get hurt, and they had a game where they lost a big lead to the Fever at home with a lot of Indiana fans in the house. That was some adversity. But in games without Phee, they still went 3-2. And so if that wasn’t gonna sink the season, it just kind of felt like nothing [would]. And I think when they won the Commissioner’s Cup final in New York against the Liberty, I think that was kind of when, if the Lynx weren’t on your radar as a contender, they had to be at that point. So [it didn’t] really surprise me. They stated that type of season was the goal going forward from the jump. And so it didn’t really shock me that they got there, but they still played at such a high level that I was, surprised isn’t the right word, but in awe, is probably better. They played some pretty awe-inspiring basketball down the stretch,” he continued.

Then, the two discussed what changes the Minnesota Lynx are making as they prepare for another season where they might be less underestimated than they were in 2024:

“I think when you get as close as they did to winning the Finals, and you have your entire starting five under contract for another year, don’t overthink it. You know, run that five back,” Horstman explained. “It worked really well. There’s obviously things to be added around the margins. I really liked Myisha Hines-Allen, also just one of the best interviews in our league. And I was hoping they’d be able to retain her. Then I saw that she got close to max money from Dallas for this year. So I’m just happy for her like, get that bag, and hopefully she’s in a position to get another bag next year. The other big loss is the Italian sharpshooter [Cecilia Zandalasini], who Golden State took in the Expansion Draft. Looking to have a representative from every country in the world as kind of Golden State’s roster makeup right now, Italy is a good one to include there. But [Zandalasini] was huge for the Lynx in a lot of ways. I think her biggest game was in the Commissioner’s Cup Final. One of three different Lynx who shot above 40% from three last year. That’s definitely part of the team’s identity, and was just someone who could come off the bench, you knew she’d do the right thing and knew her role. And I think Karlie Samuelson actually fits more into that than what Myisha did. I think they’ll probably ask maybe a little bit of [Dorka Juhász] in this year, hopefully she plays a little bit closer to her rookie year than stretches from last season. But Dorka had a great off season playing in Italy and in some national team games with Hungary as well. So yeah, there’s not a ton of movement, I think retaining Natisha Hiedeman in the backup guard spot is huge. She was a free agent, and I was kind of convinced that she’d be the one who would get too much money elsewhere to say no. Being able to have the starting five, and then, in addition to that, Natisha Hiedeman and Dorka, that’s close to 90% of the total minutes from last year. So I like all of these other moves.”

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Horstman also touched on the Lynx’s strategy during Monday’s 2025 WNBA Draft:

“What Cheryl Reeve said after the draft was, ‘we owe it to ourselves and to this team to put our best foot forward for 2025, while also doing the balancing act of making sure we have things lined up well for the future.’ And I think that’s what they did in getting Samuelson, getting some young players, [Dalayah Daniels] and [Aubrey Griffin] are both really intriguing prospects, and ensuring that they’re able to hold onto Chicago’s first round pick next year, so that they do have a … bite of the apple in the first round of the draft next year, depending on what that draft looks like, which we can speculate, we have no idea, though. But yeah, it’s always good to make sure that you’re at least involved in that and have some capital, depending on what happens, especially during next year’s WNBA free agency period, which is already stressing me out, given how much volatility there will be around the league,” Horstman continued.

Tune in to hear more about the Minnesota Lynx, the changes they’ve made over the offseason and what it will take to make it back to the WNBA Finals. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!