Sylvia Fowles waved to the Target Center crowd after being named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year last season. (Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

On the day Sylvia Fowles' return to the Lynx was made official, so was this:

The 2022 season — her 15^th overall and eighth with the Lynx — will be Fowles' last.

"There are a few reasons why I chose to play another year," Fowles said in a statement released by the team. "The main reason for my return had a lot to do with our fans. I wanted to make sure I gave them the opportunity to see me play my final season. It feels right that my playing career finishes in Minnesota; there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

Fowles, then with Chicago, sat out the first half of the 2015 season to force a trade to the Lynx. Her arrival helped the team to the last two of four league titles. Fowles was WNBA finals MVP in 2015, regular-season and finals MVP in 2017.

"Sylvia is a franchise leader both on and off the court and her heart is such a big part of this Minnesota family and fanbase," Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor said in a news release. "We are elated that she will spend her final year with the Lynx, and I look forward to celebrating her illustrious career throughout the season."

Fowles had been weighing her return for a 15^th season with her desire to become a mother.

She and Lynx Coach/GM Cheryl Reeve will hold a Zoom news conference on Wednesday.

Fowles showed no signs of slowing down last season, which ended with the Lynx earning the fourth seed in the WNBA playoffs and Fowles winning the league's defensive player of the year award for the fourth time; she and Tamika Catchings are the only players to win it four times.

Fowles finished second in the league in rebounding (10.1 per game), steals (1.8) and blocks (1.8). She averaged 16.0 points per game, which meant she averaged a double-double for the sixth time in her career. She led the league in shooting percentage (64.0) for the eighth time in her career.

Sylvia Fowles career statistics

Last July, Fowles — the Lynx franchise leader in field-goal percentage (60.9), rebounds per game (9.8) and double-doubles (88) — won her fourth Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Tokyo.

In September she was named to the W25, a list of the 25 greatest and most influential players in WNBA history, where she joined former teammates Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen as well as current Lynx lead assistant coach Katie Smith.

Tuesday was the first day WNBA teams could announce contract signings. The Lynx are expected, in the coming days, to announce the return of point guard Layshia Clarendon and the addition of veteran free agent forward Angel McCoughtry.
Rachel Banham is also returning to the Lynx, a league source confirmed. The former Gophers guard has played in 47 games for the Lynx over the past two seasons, averaging 5.8 points per game.