Fighting for Five: How the 2025 Minnesota Lynx squad came together

The Minnesota Lynx will enter the WNBA postseason as the No. 1 seed and have home court advantage throughout the playoffs. However, the path to a fifth franchise title — which would be the most in league history, breaking a tie with the Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics — won’t be easy.

Coach Cheryl Reeve and company will play the expansion Golden State Valkyries in a best-of-three first round that begins Sunday. They could face the defending champion New York Liberty in the second round, a series that would dredge up a lot of emotions and questions from last season’s WNBA Finals debacle.

Here’s a chance for casual fans to get to know this motivated Lynx team ahead of the 2025 WNBA playoffs.

Reeve is among the best coaches in Minnesota sports history while leading Lynx teams to four championships. She has four players from the 2015 and ’17 title teams — Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus — in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Reeve’s commitment to winning and contributions to the rise of the WNBA are unquestioned.

The past two seasons have been a drive for title No. 5, as the Lynx lost in five games to the Liberty, with the fifth game including late controversy. That has fueled them this season, as they roared through the schedule to claim the No. 1 seed in the playoffs despite star Napheesa Collier missing time because of an injury. Reeve’s team is fun to watch on offense and hard to beat when they turn it up on defense.

Career record: 364-190 | .657 winning percentage

Fun fact: Reeve was brought in by the Twins as a speaker in 2017 to discuss ways to build and maintain a winning culture. She has occasionally interacted with them since then.

2025 stats: 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.5 blocks

Fun fact: Collier is one of five Lynx players who were part of the 2019 draft class. The others: Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard, Natisha Hiedeman and Bridget Carleton.

Stopping Courtney Williams has been one of the unmet challenges in the league this season. If you want to play her tough and bring a double team, she’s going to find away around it or hit an open teammate for a score. If you respect her too much, she will bury a jumper in the your face. Her stop-and-pop midrange game is one of the best around. Williams has brought even more to the table this season, extending her range and bombing away from the three-point line. She has attempted 151 shots beyond the arc, easily the most she’s taken in a season. Williams was named to her second All-Star team this year, a fitting reward for someone whose game has continued to grow since signing as a free agent from Chicago following the 2023 season. She gets on scoring sprees that has electrified fans at Target Center. And she’s the spiritual force behind a title-hungry Lynx team.

2025 stats: 13.6 points, 6.2 assists

Fun fact: Williams, along with teammate and close friend Natisha Hiedeman, recently did a photo shoot for Vogue.

2025 stats: 14.2 points, 3.5 assists, 39.5% three-point shooting

Fun fact: McBride is one of 13 former Notre Dame players, including teammate Jessica Shepard, on active WNBA rosters.

Not everyone has to score to have value on a team. And Carleton is very valuable to the Lynx despite averaging fewer than 7.0 points a game. If they need a bucket, she definitely can get one. But when they someone to dive after a loose ball, cut off a passing line, set a screen, find someone cutting to the basket, etc., Carleton can do all of that with aplomb. Carelton can affect winning without filling up the scoresheet. And she can be a threat from deep. In 2024, she made 44.4% of her three-point attempts; she finished at 37.8% this season. That’s why she’s fourth on the team in minutes played. She’s come a long way since signing a seven-day contract in 2019 and getting her chance when Sylvia Fowles went down with an injury the next season.

2025 stats: 6.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists.

Fun fact: Carleton finished third in voting for the league’s Most Improved Player in 2024. The winner was current teammate DiJonai Carrington.

2025 stats: 9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 48.5 FG%

Fun Fact: Smith has a degree in psychology from Stanford and is pursuing and master’s degree in the same field.

Hiedeman is playing the best basketball of her career at the right time. This month, she set the WNBA record for most assists coming off the bench in a single season. She also scored 20-plus points as a reserve in three consecutive games, joining Kelsey Plum and Angel McCoughtry as the only players to do so. After being held to six points Tuesday at Atlanta, she scored 21 points in Thursday’s regular-season finale vs. Golden State. She is irreplaceable for the Lynx, entering games to push the tempo while providing offense and playmaking. With Hiedeman and Williams, the Lynx have unmatched depth at point guard, which will serve them well in the postseason.

2025 stats: 9.1 points. 2.8 assists, 49.2 FG%

Fun fact: Hiedeman recently had her number retired at Green Bay Southwest High School. Yes, she’s from Packerland.

2025 stats: 8.6 points, 48.5 FG%

Fun fact: Carrington played with Williams and Hiedeman at Connecticut in 2022, a team that also included DeWanna Bonner, Brionna Jones, Jonquel Jones and Alyssa Thomas.

One of the most impactful developments this season has been the return of Shepard from Greece, where she averaged 26.4 points and 14.5 rebounds per game for Athinaikos. She has filled a variety of roles for the Lynx, providing scoring, rebounding and defense and even initiating the offense. She stepped up when Collier was sidelined by injury, notching a triple-double Aug. 8 at Indiana, only the second in franchise history. She finished the regular season with 10 double-double games. “If Jessica Shepard is not a Lynx this year, we’re in big-time trouble,” Reeve said earlier this season.

2025 stats: 8.0 points, 7.3 rebounds

Fun fact: Shepard easily leads the WNBA in field-goal percentage at 63.8%.