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Welcome back to No Offseason. Today:
⭐ Olivia Miles is on a heater
😎 Fudd’s bravado
🎧 Coaching legacies shaping the W
Let’s go.
Breakout Star: Better than Clark or Bueckers?
The expectation ahead of the 2026 WNBA Draft was that this group wouldn’t produce a generational superstar. For all the talent atop the draft, including a couple of multi-time All-Americans and national champions plus the Spanish sensation Awa Fam, there was no one who would seemingly set the league on fire like Paige Bueckers or Caitlin Clark.
It’s early, but it’s fair to say that assumption was wrong … whoops.
Not only is Olivia Miles already on the shortlist of the coolest players in the WNBA — the goggles alone would do the trick, not to mention the nightly must-see dimes — she is already among the most impactful. Heading into yesterday’s games, Miles was leading the league in win shares (2.2), eclipsing reigning MVP A’ja Wilson for the top spot.
Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx have made do without a traditional point guard since current assistant Lindsay Whalen retired from playing in 2018, and they haven’t exactly been suffering in the interim. But Miles, a true floor general, has unlocked the potential of everyone on the roster.
Miles is spoon-feeding free-agent frontcourt acquisitions Natasha Howard and Nia Coffey on the pick-and-roll. Plus, Courtney Williams is back to her baddest, bucket-getting self as a 2-guard, averaging a career-high 17.1 points on a career-best 48.5 percent shooting from the field.
The two greatest rookie guard seasons in WNBA history belong to Clark and Bueckers, respectively, and Miles — the No. 2 pick out of TCU — is well on her way to matching or even exceeding their production.
She’s behind on scoring and playmaking volume — Clark and Bueckers both averaged 19.2 points compared to 17.2 for Miles, and the rookie’s assist average of 6.3 trails Clark’s mark of 8.4 — but her efficiency is far superior, and she’s leading the best team in the WNBA, currently at 9-2.
Miles is also doing all of this without Napheesa Collier, the Lynx’s leading playmaker, who is currently sidelined after undergoing left ankle surgery this offseason. The added weight on Miles’ shoulders seems to be no issue at all.
The Lynx officially have a superstar duo, and Miles belongs in every conversation about this historic generation of perimeter players.
Fast Breaks
🔥 The Clark backlash is reaching a fever pitch — no pun intended — but this is why Indiana brought Stephanie White back home.
🏙️ Speaking of homecomings, Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello made her return to New York after leading the Liberty to their only title in franchise history in 2024.
❤️ Brondello also shared an emotional reunion with Chamique Holdsclaw, whom Brondello helped at a time when the WNBA didn’t provide many mental health resources. The entire story is worth listening to on Richard Deitsch’s “Sports Media” podcast.
👑 It’s not just Wilson in Las Vegas — Jackie Young has the Aces on the upswing in this week’s power rankings after her weekend game winner.
🎙️ In the latest episode of the “No Offseason” podcast, Zena Keita and Annie explore coaching legacies that have shaped the game today, like those of Dan Hughes, Bill Laimbeer, Becky Hammon and Reeve.
You Gotta See This
From the (Commissioner’s Cup) logo
Yup. That’s Caitlin Clark doing Caitlin Clark things.
Cotie McMahon, a veteran of the Big Ten like Clark, should know better than to leave her open on the wing like that.
After the Fever lost to the Mystics in overtime, despite Clark’s heroics in their first meeting of the season, the third-year guard finished the job this time around, hitting a game-winning triple to turn a one-point deficit into a two-point win with 2.5 seconds left to play, capping a 19-point, five-assist effort on the road. The Fever are now 6-5.
It’s the same spot where Clark drained a 3 to set the NCAA women’s scoring record during her senior year at Iowa.
Couple celly
Tempo vet Isabelle Harrison missed the first 10 games of the season with a hand injury, and as fate would have it, she made her 2026 debut Sunday against the Sky, who her partner Natasha Cloud plays for.
Harrison gave Cloud a warm welcome to Toronto, recording 14 points, six rebounds and two assists as the Tempo routed the Sky 85-68. She even borrowed Cloud’s (NSFW!) 3-point celebration, which the Chicago guard busted out after a game-clinching triple Friday against the Sun. Only in the W.
Awkward: Fudd finding her ‘swag’
Azzi Fudd has now started three games in her young WNBA career, and the first one, she said on her “Fudd Around and Find Out” podcast, was especially awkward.
The basketball part was fine and easy, but the opening handshakes with the Aces threw her for a loop.
“I don’t know these people yet, do I have to go say hi to them?” Fudd said in May.
I wondered if any of her Wings teammates had sympathy for her predicament, so I asked Bueckers about it yesterday.
“Azzi’s still working on her swag,” was all Bueckers had to say.
Numbers Game
11: When Miles set the rookie record with eight 3-pointers in one game last week, it was noteworthy not just for the makes, but the number of attempts (11). She only took 18 total 3-point shots in her previous nine games, and came back down to three attempts the game after her historic night. Miles reached double-digit 3-point attempts six times in her 139-game college career — the Lynx would certainly appreciate her volume trending a little higher.
22: Wilson blocked Dearica Hamby for the 22nd time in her career this week in Las Vegas’ win in Los Angeles. It’s pretty wild that the player Wilson has blocked the most in her WNBA tenure (Hamby) was her teammate for two-thirds of her career.
25: Only two players have averaged at least 25 points for a WNBA season: Diana Taurasi in 2006 and Wilson in 2024. Through the quarter pole of the season, Wilson is once again hitting that target, as is her former Aces teammate Kelsey Plum (who is now with the Sparks).
Watch Guide
Here are the top games we’re monitoring this week (all times ET):
📺 Wings-Lynx
Today at 8 p.m., League Pass
The top two picks in the draft — Fudd and Miles — meet again.
📺 Sparks-Storm
Tomorrow at 10 p.m., USA Network
Plum, the WNBA’s leading scorer, returns to her college stomping grounds where she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in 2017, though that record has since been usurped by Clark.
📺 Liberty-Dream
Thursday at 7:30 p.m., League Pass
Two of the three best defensive teams in the league face off. If New York (8-4) wins, the Liberty have the inside track to the Eastern Conference berth for the Commissioner’s Cup final. If Atlanta (7-3) wins, start keeping an eye on the point differential.
📺 Valkyries-Storm
Friday at 10 p.m., Ion/League Pass
Dominique Malonga is back for Seattle, which means three of the best French players in the WNBA (Malonga, Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün) will take the court together with three months until the FIBA World Cup.
📺 Lynx-Aces
Saturday at 8 p.m., CBS/Paramount+
The league’s best team takes on the defending champions.
📺 Mystics-Liberty
Sunday at 3 p.m., NBA TV
Can Washington (4-6) get over the hump and beat New York for the first time since September 2023?
📺 Aces-Wings
Monday at 8 p.m., USA Network
Jess Shepard carved up Las Vegas to the tune of 22 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists the last time these teams met, and Aces coach Becky Hammon likely left Dallas with a fine after a postgame rant about the officiating. The Aces (8-3) haven’t lost since.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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