MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After coming so close to the WNBA championship last year, the Minnesota Lynx have picked right up where they left off.
They sure weren’t satisfied with the status quo, though, as evidenced by their recent acquisition of DiJonai Carrington. The Most Improved Player award winner and All-Defensive First Team selection in 2024 has bolstered the league leader’s depth, injected a dose of two-way energy into an already determined club and made a seamless transition after the midseason switch.
“She’s been a great addition,” starting forward Bridget Carleton said. “Playing against her has always been a challenge. She’s just feisty, competitive, always wants to win, plays hard every single possession.”
Even with superstar Napheesa Collier sidelined by a sprained right ankle, the Lynx haven’t missed a beat. They’re in first place by six games at 27-5, surging toward the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs.
“You just want to feel like you’re a better team when she comes back into the team, that you’ve figured some things out, that people are playing with confidence,” associate head coach Eric Thibault said. “Our group’s attitude is right about it. Nobody feels sorry for ourselves or anything like that. We just go out and battle.”
Carrington was acquired from the Dallas Wings on Aug. 3 for backup forward Diamond Miller, injured guard Karlie Samuelson and Minnesota’s 2027 second-round draft pick.e
Miller was the second overall pick in the 2023 draft, so Carrington came at a price. But president of basketball operations and head coach Cheryl Reeve, who’s chasing a fifth title with Minnesota, has this team fully in win-now mode with Collier in her prime and an experienced lineup around her led by five-time All-Star shooting guard Kayla McBride, two-time All-Star point guard Courtney Williams and shot-blocking specialist Alanna Smith patrolling the post.
“I’m a winner, and this is a winning organization,” Carrington said.
The 5-foot-11 native of San Diego, who played her first four WNBA seasons with the Connecticut Sun, was dealt to Dallas earlier this year. She averaged a career-best 5.1 rebounds in 20 games with the Wings.
In three games since the trade, and coincidentally since Collier was injured, Carrington has 40 points, 12 rebounds and six steals. The Lynx take a five-game winning streak into their game on Saturday against the defending champion New York Liberty, whom they’ve already beaten twice this month in a measure of revenge for their overtime loss in New York last year in the decisive game of the WNBA Finals.
In the previous round, when the Lynx beat the Sun in a five-game series, Reeve became enamored by Carrington, who had 17 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and one block in defeat in the decisive game of those semifinals.
The chance this summer to acquire a defensive ace on the perimeter who could alleviate some of the burden on McBride as well as provide more scoring off the bench was one the Lynx couldn’t miss.
“We felt like we could use a little bit more help as we made this run,” Reeve said. “If you stay exactly the same, it’s really hard to accomplish and get back and get over the hump, so we wanted to keep the group together — but we also thought we needed a little bit more.”
Williams and Natisha Hiedeman played with Carrington with the Sun, so there was pre-existing chemistry. Smith was a teammate of Carrington’s at Stanford, as well, so they were already close.
“It was like a friend coming home,” Smith said. “That’s kind of how it felt. I was excited. I think she’s a piece that’s really good for us and only going to help us get to the point we want to get to, which is a championship.”
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/WNBA
