In the weeks leading up to the WNBA trade deadline, Lynx coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve examined her roster and realized her club needed some help.
Sure, the Lynx were rolling, posting the league’s best record and leading the chase for the No. 1 playoff seed. But Reeve was looking further down the line, to a demanding three-round playoff schedule that featured, for the first time, a best-of-seven championship series. This would follow a 44-game regular season, the longest in league history.
So Reeve, after waiving second-year forward Alissa Pili to create salary cap room, sought two kinds of players. One was obvious, the other subtle.
The obvious: A post player to lessen the burden on Alanna Smith, the rugged Australian power forward playing out of position at center. The subtle: A three-position defender to support Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton and Courtney Williams, who have logged big minutes all season.
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Reeve never did land a post. The Lynx lost out on free agent Emma Meesseman, the 6-4 Belgian veteran who signed with the New York Liberty, the defending league champion and the Lynx’s chief competition for the title. After initially handling this disappointment with grace, Reeve couldn’t resist a jab at Meesseman. “She made the wrong choice,” Reeve told reporters July 29, before her team’s first meeting with the Liberty.
The defender Reeve targeted, however, proved to be a bold, championship-level stroke: Sleek 5-11 guard DiJonai Carrington, an All-Defensive first teamer and the league’s Most Improved Player in 2024.
Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride (21) drives to the basket against Phoenix Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani (8) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Phoenix. Credit: Ross D. Franklin/AP
Three games into her tenure with the 27-5 Lynx — all victories — Carrington’s energetic play on both ends more than justified the package the Lynx sent to Dallas for her: Former starter Diamond Miller; wing Karlie Samuelson, out for the season with a foot injury; and a second-round pick in 2027. And the Lynx did it without giving up the likely 2026 lottery pick acquired from Chicago last spring.
“We felt like we could use a little more help as we made this run,” Reeve said. “Time will tell how this is all going to work out. But that was something we felt like since the off-season.
“If you stay exactly the same, it’s really hard to accomplish and get back and get over the hump. We wanted to keep the group together, but felt like they needed a little more. You need to get McBride, Courtney and BC [Carleton] off the floor, regular season. You have to get them off the floor so every possession, there isn’t that wear of, ‘I have to do this every game.’ And in the playoffs, you have to give a different look.”
Competitor ‘times ten’
Carrington gives the Lynx something Miller tried to provide, but ultimately couldn’t — someone who could defend like crazy, then get out on the fast break.
Playing for Connecticut last season, Carrington made a lasting impression on Reeve in Game 5 of the semifinals at Target Center. Even with the Lynx in command at halftime, leading by 19 points, Carrington never let up. She scored all 17 of her points in the second half, and added 12 rebounds and three steals in the 88-77 loss.
“I really grew in my fandom during that game,” Reeve said. “She’s a competitor times ten.”
Added Carrington: “I was obviously delighted she loves that about me, but that’s just me, honestly.
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“Second half, it kind of seemed like we kind of rolled over a little bit, but that’s never in my DNA. I’m going to compete until the end, and I think that kind of stuck out to her, the fight that I have. It’s not even something I think about, because that’s just how I play, regardless if it’s Game 5 or Game 1 of the season.”
Reeve first inquired about Carrington last winter. Reeve didn’t know Carrington personally, so she spoke with Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, Carrington’s former teammates in Connecticut, as well as Smith, who played three seasons with Carrington at Stanford. (Reeve still abides by a “no knuckleheads” rule, instituted during the dynasty years, to never knowingly bring in someone who poisons team culture and chemistry.)
Nothing developed right away; the Sun dealt Carrington to Dallas in February as part of a four-team trade. But with Dallas struggling this season, general manager Curt Miller sought to move her. Reeve and Miller know each other well, from coaching together with USA Basketball and against each other in the WNBA. The final details came together the morning of August 3.
“The best trades are win-win,” Reeve said, “and Curt and I both feel very much this is a win-win.”
Meeting the team in Seattle, Carrington came off the bench to score 13 points, the most by a Lynx reserve in her debut since 2008, when Chardé Houston put up 21 and Candice Wiggins 15 in the season opener against Detroit. Carrington added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one significant block.
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) dribbles down the court during the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Minneapolis. Credit: Abbie Parr/AP
The Lynx needed more from everyone without Collier, the league scoring leader and MVP favorite who sprained her right ankle three nights earlier in Las Vegas. Carrington did her part, pouring in 10 points in the fourth quarter to key the 91-87 victory. The quarter began with Carrington sky-ing to block a Tiffany Mitchell layup left-handed, then drilling a 3-pointer, sparking a game-deciding 16-4 run.
“Without her,” Hiedeman said, “we don’t win that game.”
Lynx fans concurred, giving her a standing ovation Aug. 8 when she checked in for the first time at Target Center. Carrington sported a different look that night against Washington, changing the color of her long, flowing hair from blonde to a light pink. That was a nod to pink-haired pals Williams and Hiedeman, aka the StudBudz.
“I’ve told them I’m the FemBud with my pink hair,” Carrington said. “It’s not their same color, but we’re locked in for sure. I think they need a little blond in there or something, right?”
McBride usually defends the other team’s best perimeter scorer, a task that sometimes requires sacrificing offense. In Sunday’s 83-71 victory in Brooklyn, Carrington filled some of that duty, checking the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu. With fresher legs, All-Star McBride hit four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 18 points. Carrington chipped in 15 points, eight in the third quarter, as the Lynx beat a Liberty squad without Breanna Stewart (right knee bone bruise) and two other players.
“Taking a little bit of that load off, it helps a lot,” McBride told reporters at Sunday’s postgame press conference. “So I’m very, very grateful. I told Cheryl it was like a luxury to have that.”
Championship window
There’s some urgency to all this. Most WNBA veterans structured their contracts to be unrestricted free agents after this season, when the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. Dorka Juhász, currently playing in Turkey, and Russian rookie Anastasiia Olairi Kosu are the only Lynx signed for next season, per the web site Her Hoop Stats.
The Lynx would undoubtedly use the league’s “core” designation to keep Collier if Reeve thought she might leave. Most Lynx players like it here. But some, like Carrington, may accept better offers elsewhere. This could be their last shot at a championship in Minnesota.
“I’m a winner, and this is a winning organization,” Carrington said. “It’s definitely a good feeling to be recognized by some people at the top. Obviously, I miss my teammates in Dallas. I built great sisterhood with them. But at the end of the day, it’s about basketball, it’s about winning, and that’s what I’m here to do.”
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