{"id":856721,"date":"2026-08-13T15:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856721\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:28:11","slug":"the-wnba-already-belongs-to-olivia-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856721\/","title":{"rendered":"The WNBA Already Belongs to Olivia Miles"},"content":{"rendered":"

WNBA<\/a>WNBA<\/a>The superfly rookie can see the future. Good luck keeping up.\"\"Getty Images\/Ringer illustration\"\"<\/a>By Tyler Parker<\/a>Aug. 13, 1:10 pm UTC \u2022 10 min<\/p>\n

\u201cMy imagination is so far out there already. People couldn’t imagine what goes on in my brain.\u201d \u2014Missy Elliott<\/a><\/p>\n

I. Superfly<\/p>\n

Jimmy Naismith\u2019s rules for basketball were first published on January 15, 1892, by Springfield College\u2019s student newspaper, The Triangle. There were 13. They\u2019re on view in the DeBruce Center at the University of Kansas. The header at the top of the first page? Basket Ball.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need me typing all 13<\/a> at you. Some are basic. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. Some are weird. If either side makes three consecutive fouls, it shall count a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the mean time making a foul). Some are long. No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of this rule by any player shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed. Mainly, though, the rules just sound archaic. The time shall be two 15-minute halves, with five minutes\u2019 rest between. He really didn\u2019t want people \u201cstriking at the ball with the fist.\u201d And when the ball went out of bounds, it seems like basically all hell broke loose? When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field of play by the person first touching it. In case of a dispute, the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. Or say the game ended in a tie? The game may, by agreement of the captains, be continued until another goal is made. Sudden death, baby. Golden goal. Or I suppose it would be more of a golden basket situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word \u201cpass\u201d does not appear once. Jimbo opted for \u201cthrow.\u201d But times change. For instance, nowadays, nobody says Olivia Miles is a great thrower. They say she\u2019s a great passer. And anyway, Big Jim was born in the mid-1800s. He\u2019d never seen the kind of ultra-electric entertainment value Miles brings nightly. Naismith sees Miles throw a between-the-legs bounce pass, he\u2019s hitting his knees and assuming he\u2019s in the presence of the divine. His assumption would be correct. This is one of the most uniquely skilled, creative basketball players we\u2019ve seen in a long time, and she has come out the gates on five kinds of fire. Runaway Rookie of the Year, of course, but she\u2019s also currently got the frickin\u2019 second-best MVP odds in the league. If that weren\u2019t enough, she\u2019s one of the main reasons the Minnesota Lynx have a real shot of winning their first title in a decade. A real-deal party maker. She rules. Take it away, Curtis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

II. Smooth<\/p>\n

It started with a turnover. With a little under six minutes left in the second quarter of a Lynx-Tempo game back in July, Minnesota\u2019s got the ball up 38-33. Courtney Williams tries to thread a pass from the top of the key to Natasha Howard, who\u2019s flashing at the right block. Problem is, Teonni Key\u2019s wings get in the way and knock the ball loose. Marina Mabrey picks up the pill, takes a couple of dribbles, then gets got. This is when Miles enters the mix. The party\u2019s here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lynx\u2019s primo rook cuts Mabrey off, and the Tempo forward responds by trying to fire one over the top to Julie Allemand. But Miles is working out of the back of the book. She gets tall and gets a deflection, the ball floating to half-court before Howard pulls it down out of the sky and fires it back to Miles. Key tries to do to the rookie what the rookie just did to Mabrey, only Miles is ready for it. She OBJ\u2019s it, then takes us into the cosmos. The moment it hits her hand, she immediately whips it on the move, between her legs, the ball hitting Kayla McBride in perfect stride along the right wing. It\u2019s one of the smoothest passes you could ever hope to see. You could slip and slide on that pass. McBride cashes an above-the-break triple, and the Lynx crowd goes berserk, brought to a roar once more by Miles, their resident seer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is one of the most ready-made rookies we\u2019ve ever seen, not just in the WNBA, but in professional basketball as a whole. People don\u2019t come in with this amount of polish, this amount of sauce, this amount of volcanic activity. This is an S-tier conductor with a penchant for thrills, and she\u2019s had the magic for years. Won a gold medal<\/a> in Chile as a member of the United States U16 women\u2019s team. When she was just a junior in high school, ESPN was already touting her<\/a> as a two-sport phenom, her soccer skills similarly nasty. Even back then, they were already putting her in the same sentence as Sue Bird, Steve Nash, Diana Taurasi. <\/a>If you\u2019re a point guard, that\u2019s a high-quality sentence to appear in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She picked Notre Dame over Stanford and North Carolina. She played three full seasons in South Bend, led the ACC in assists every one of those seasons, and made two All-American teams. Then she raised a bunch of eyebrows when she turned down the WNBA to hit the transfer portal and play another year at TCU. Miles wrecked shop down there, won Big 12 Player of the Year, took the Horned Frogs to the Elite Eight, and added another All-American nod to her cover letter along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

III. With Apologies to Antoine Carr \u2026<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a transcript of a film session<\/a> with Candace Parker and Olivia Miles on April 15, 2025. This takes place shortly after Miles decided to forgo the WNBA draft and transfer to TCU for a fifth year:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Candace Parker: So, can you walk me through how this came about? Because you do this so naturally.<\/p>\n

Olivia Miles: So, I was pushing the break. I obviously know where everyone\u2019s running habits should be, so I trusted that Maddy [Westbeld] would be there. But ultimately, the defense has to sprint and turn their back. So, Hailey Van Lith, as you saw, she kind of lost Maddy \u2019cause she\u2019s sprinting to Hannah [Hidalgo]. You just give her a little look. Like, eyes are everything. I don\u2019t think people really understand \u2026<\/p>\n

Parker: Say that again, for the people in the back. You do that amazingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miles: That\u2019s why I fixed my goggles [laughing]. I had to be able to use my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parker: You fixed your goggles twice.<\/p>\n

Miles: But no, I think, you just give a little head fake or a little eye fake, it forces people to make movements. Manipulate them how you want. You see, Hailey doesn\u2019t even really know what\u2019s going on here, so \u2026<\/p>\n

What you have to understand is that the court vision is off the charts. She\u2019s processing the game at crazy levels already. Her imagination is extravagant, full to the gills. She knows the eyes are the best liars we have. Smart of her to keep hers so well protected.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Olivia Miles passes during the game against the Toronto Tempo on July 28<\/p>\n

Jordan Johnson\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Something else to understand: She wears goggles, and they are the best. They are her trademark, her calling card, her signature. She\u2019s already got a sponsorship with GlassesUSA. I\u2019m not sure why some of the more high-end eyewear brands aren\u2019t knocking her door down. I don\u2019t see why Jacques Marie Mage can\u2019t make her a few pairs with actual turquoise embedded in the frames and little silver lynxes on the earpieces. Shouldn\u2019t be that hard. With apologies to Jazz-era Antoine Carr<\/a>, Miles is the most dynamic bespectacled hooper since Kareem. The goggles suit her, give her an air of refined omnipotence that she wears nicely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IV. On the Banks of Kabetogama Lake<\/p>\n

She\u2019s more than just a passer, but holy shit, is she a passer. The passing is luxurious and artful. The passing is [opens present]. The passing is everybody dance now. The passing is [Price Is Right voice] A BRAND-NEW CAR. Miles\u2019s repertoire is expressive, exacting, elegant, rowdy. She\u2019s flinging highlights left and right, splitting arrows. You know that kid who performed at his school talent show or whatever and he just walked out there and flipped the water bottle perfectly<\/a> and the place went nuts? That\u2019s sort of the experience of watching Miles pass the rock at this point. Her assists border on spectacle. They have sparkling personalities. The camera loves them. Some are cheeky, some are thoughtful, some are silly, some are just plain cool. She just dropped a career-high 13 on Azzi Fudd, Paige Bueckers, and the rest of the Dallas Wings last week. She\u2019s got the ball on a string; she\u2019s loaded up with ammo. There are moments when it seems like she can see the future.<\/p>\n

A pass is \u201cI got you\u201d in motion, and if you\u2019re with Miles, she\u2019s got you. This past weekend, she ripped Chelsea Gray<\/a>, then strung a no-look long-distance bounce pass that sneaked between two Aces defenders and hit a teammate in stride for a layup at the other end. And she\u2019s so ho-hum about it all. You don\u2019t watch her operate and think there\u2019s any heavy lifting going on here. She\u2019s got a fluidity and a strength with the ball that reads as effortlessness. You\u2019re not gonna big girl her and knock her off her spot. You\u2019re not gonna speed her up. You\u2019re gonna go at her speed because she said so. She controls the flow. She\u2019s processing the game at such a high level that things are already moving slowly for her. The league will not be imposing its will on her. That\u2019s gonna go the other way around. She\u2019s a unique blend. Sort of a Chelsea Gray meets Brandon Roy meets a more chill Manu Ginobili. It\u2019s playmaking and steadiness and surprises. It\u2019s invention and resourcefulness. Miles got to 500 career points and 150 career assists faster than any other player in WNBA history. She contains multitudes. Pyrotechnic, a Stradivarius.<\/p>\n

But the passing is so deadly only because the rest of her skill set is so well rounded. She can wreck shop in the pick-and-roll, split doubles and get to the rim, smooth around in the midrange, cruise whip passes over your head all night, carve you up. On the break, forget about it. It\u2019s Krakatoa. Get the hell out of there. Your life is in danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She plays at a pace that says you bend to me. The handle is maniacal. Real muahahaha stuff. For instance, Wings at Lynx. Two months ago. There\u2019s 2:22 left in the second quarter, and Miles is bringing the ball across half-court. Fudd awaits. Miles walks her near the left wing, and Howard comes to the top of the key to set a ball screen. Miles goes left to right between her legs, rejects the screen, goes right to left behind her back, then cobra whips a crossover in front of Fudd, a little hesi-stepback combo that leaves Fudd grasping. Miles gets a parting screen from Howard for good measure, and Fudd arrives back into the play just in time for Miles to cash one from a distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s another thing; the jumper\u2019s true enough. Plus, Miles isn\u2019t afraid to pull from the boonies. She\u2019ll fire from Minnetonka, from way out in Mankato, from Brainerd. She\u2019ll fire from Voyageurs National Park, on the banks of Kabetogama Lake, near the Ontarian border, about four hours from Thunder Bay if you take Highway 11. If you want a more scenic route, you can take Highway 61, spin along the coast of Lake Superior. It\u2019ll add another hour and a half to your drive, but, you know, it\u2019s your call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

V. Party Time<\/p>\n

Her fit in Minnesota has been absolutely seamless. She has been perfect, the exact right player, the exact right vibe. A team like the Lynx, with so many vet leaders who have been through the battles before, it takes a special kind of newcomer, a special kind of worker, to gain the respect and freedom she has earned so soon. She\u2019s pitching in however she can. Because if you\u2019re out there with her, she\u2019s looking out for you. She wants to make you feel special. She wants to shower you with gifts. She wants you to be happy. She wants you to thrive. Based purely on how she plays, I feel comfortable saying she throws great parties.<\/p>\n

This is because she\u2019s paying attention to the little things. You come over to her place for a soiree, she\u2019s making sure everybody gets something to eat, something to drink. She made brownies. She knows you can\u2019t have nuts. She made some without the nuts. Everybody gets a cup, and they write funny names on them, and it\u2019s really funny and everyone loves it and some people even take their cups home and display them. And later, when they see the cup, they think, That was a fun party. Miles is making sure there\u2019s plenty of ice, cups, plates, napkins. She errs on the side of ordering too much food because she\u2019d rather do that than run out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s got things taken care of. Welcome to Olivia\u2019s. It\u2019s party time. She rules.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tyler Parker<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tyler Parker is a staff writer at The Ringer and the author of \u2018A Little Blood and Dancing.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBAWNBAThe superfly rookie can see the future. Good luck keeping up.Getty Images\/Ringer illustrationBy Tyler ParkerAug. 13, 1:10 pm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-856721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856721","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=856721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}