{"id":307718,"date":"2025-11-26T08:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/307718\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T08:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:18:16","slug":"minnesota-lynx-snag-no-2-overall-pick-in-2026-wnba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/307718\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Lynx snag No. 2 overall pick in 2026 WNBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

It marked just the fifth time in the Cheryl Reeve era that the Lynx had any stake in the lottery. Their most recent occurrence also yielded the No. 2 overall pick, which they used to select Diamond Miller<\/a> in the 2023 WNBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lynx first acquired the right to swap 2026 first-rounders with the Chicago Sky in a last-minute trade on the eve of the draft in 2024. The Sky sent a package of draft capital to Minnesota in order to jump up to No. 7 in that year\u2019s draft and selected Angel Reese<\/a>. The Lynx selected Alissa Pili<\/a> at the No. 8 spot. <\/p>\n

A year later, both teams agreed to a separate deal on draft day in 2025 that extinguished the swap and gave Minnesota Chicago\u2019s 2026 first-round pick outright in exchange for the No. 11 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big step,\u201d Reeve said during her post-lottery media availability on Monday afternoon. \u201cAs you remember 2024, the other transaction we made has always largely been about this pick, and so taking that next step and know where we\u2019re picking and we can really get to work on who we\u2019ll select to be part of the team in April.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lineage of the pick has been a long one, but after the ping pong balls did their dance it formally manifested itself as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft on Sunday evening with Lynx guards Natisha Hiedeman<\/a> and Courtney Williams<\/a> in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lot can change between now and April. Similar to several teams, the Lynx have a host of unrestricted free agents from last year\u2019s roster they\u2019ll need to address whenever free agency begins. There\u2019s also the matter of the expansion draft looming large as the league prepares to welcome both the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. Events that cannot take place until the ink dries on a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and WNBA Players Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Reeve said, Minnesota has designs on its fifth championship in 2026. For a team that plans on remaining at the top of the league, a No. 2 overall pick is an exciting piece to add to its roster-building coffers, especially during an offseason of heightened uncertainty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helpful\u2026 you know, the player will be under team control,\u201d Reeve said. \u201cI think also, the position of the franchise to have as many free agents as we do, but also free agents externally looking at the Lynx, we\u2019re well positioned for success immediately, and that\u2019s what players want. So I do think it adds to the appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IX Basketball, a 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball newsroom powered by The Next
The IX Basketball<\/a>: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports<\/a>. 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.<\/p>\n

The 2026 draft class itself doesn\u2019t lack for talent, but unlike the last two WNBA Drafts, it does lack a consensus No. 1 selection. An element of the draft that will create a guessing game for outsiders, at least five months out, but sitting just behind the Dallas Wings and with the knowledge that they\u2019d at least be picking in the top four, the Lynx won\u2019t have too much guess work to deal with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re there now,\u201d Reeve said when asked how deep into the process they\u2019d narrow down a top five. \u201cRegardless of knowing our position with regard to the draft, all of us have been working on that for awhile, we\u2019ve known a top five for a while. We\u2019ll see as the (college) season evolves and that could shift. I think in general we\u2019ve already been working on the evaluation process and coaches have been out (scouting). Now we know we\u2019re number two, we only have one team above us that we have to worry about, so there\u2019s not a whole lot of guessing and we\u2019ll hone in on the players we\u2019ve identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lynx draft board will naturally shift along with the college basketball season, but the variety of types of players who will be available also gives the Lynx additional flexibility as they approach free agency and make decisions in regards to the expansion draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a wide range of skill sets (in this class),\u201d Reeve said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what\u2019s nice, certainly about the top of the draft, the first half of the first round. It reminds me a little bit of 2019. Not so much the whole depth of the draft, but certainly the nature of very talented players, but maybe not a consensus number one pick. So that leads to a certain level of subjectivity. It leads to maybe a focus more on position, that sort of thing. I think the diversity of talent in this draft in the first half of the first round, I think that\u2019s palpable, and that\u2019s something that\u2019s really interesting for us to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WNBA Draft will be held on Monday, April 13, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It marked just the fifth time in the Cheryl Reeve era that the Lynx had any stake in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[76200,123728,49,48,10946,726,4645,24532,736,9320,82,630,38381],"class_list":["post-307718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-2026-wnba-draft","tag-2026-wnba-draft-lottery","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cheryl-reeve","tag-chicago-sky","tag-courtney-williams","tag-diamond-miller","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-natisha-hiedeman","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-draft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}