Turner, 29, signed an eight-game deal with the Lynx<\/a> to start the 2025-26 WNBL\u00a0season while Perth awaited the arrival of the 2.08m 26-year-old Han, who is finishing commitments with the Chinese national women’s team. <\/p>\n “We\u2019re gonna be different, obviously,” Petrik said after the Lynx beat defending champion Bendigo Spirit 79-64<\/a> on Sunday, November 16, 2025. <\/p>\n “Bri\u2019s an elite defender, so we\u2019ve got to adjust and fill that spot so to speak.<\/p>\n “Bri\u2019s masking so much right now defensively because she\u2019s so good and athletic and agile and she can rebound as well. <\/p>\n “So it\u2019ll be different with Han. But we have been building a defensive system for Han and slotting Bri into it.”<\/p>\n Turner has been a key piece in the Lynx’s 5-2 start to WNBL26, averaging 11 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.9 blocks per game despite, Petrik admitting he didn’t play to her strengths given he was building his game plan for Han’s arrival.<\/p>\n “We\u2019ll wait and see when she (Han)\u00a0turns up, I guess,” Petrik added.<\/p>\n “It was clunky (against Bendigo)\u00a0because again, we\u2019re trying to build an offense for Han whilst having Bri \u2014 and they\u2019re different players. <\/p>\n “So we\u2019ve probably not tailored it to Bri as much, even though she\u2019s still killing it inside the system. <\/p>\n “But we\u2019re trying to get ready for the future without having that piece.”<\/p>\n WNBA Draft:<\/p>\n 2019 \u2014 New York LibertyRound 2, Pick 2 (14th overall)Han Xu \u2013 New York Liberty<\/a> Career (C, 2.08m, Shijiazhuang, China)\u200d58 games \u2502 Minutes: 12.4 \u2502 Points: 5.8 \u2502 Rebounds: 2.4 \u2502 Assists: 0.6 \u2502 Steals: 0.4 \u2502 Blocks: 0.4 \u2502 Turnovers: 0.5 \u2502 FG: 2.4\u20135.2 (46.5%) \u2502 3PT: 0.4\u20130.9 (39.6%) \u2502 FT: 0.7\u20130.9 (78.4%) \u2502 Fouls: 0.7\u200d2019 \u2502 Minutes: 7.9 \u2502 Points: 3.0 \u2502 Rebounds: 0.8 \u2502 Assists: 0.1 \u2502 Steals: 0.2 \u2502 Blocks: 0.2 \u2502 Turnovers: 0.1 \u2502 FG: 1.3\u20133.2 (41.4%) \u2502 3PT: 0.3\u20130.6 (50.0%) \u2502 FT: 0.1\u20130.1 (50.0%) \u2502 Fouls: 0.3\u200d2022 \u2502 Minutes: 16.8 \u2502 Points: 8.5 \u2502 Rebounds: 3.6 \u2502 Assists: 0.9 \u2502 Steals: 0.5 \u2502 Blocks: 0.7 \u2502 Turnovers: 0.7 \u2502 FG: 3.4\u20136.9 (49.3%) \u2502 3PT: 0.5\u20131.1 (44.4%) \u2502 FT: 1.2\u20131.5 (79.6%) \u2502 Fouls: 1.02023 \u2502 Minutes: 4.5 \u2502 Points: 1.5 \u2502 Rebounds: 0.9 \u2502 Assists: 0.0 \u2502 Steals: 0.3 \u2502 Blocks: 0.1 \u2502 Turnovers: 0.6 \u2502 FG: 0.8\u20132.5 (30.0%) \u2502 3PT: 0.0\u20130.9 (0.0%) \u2502 FT: 0\u20130 \u2502 Fouls: 0.3<\/p>\n Han has played more than 50 times for China, averaging 12.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. She also played 21 games for the Chinese Youth Team, averaging 14 points, 9.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists.<\/p>\n Petrik glowed about Turner’s professionalism and contribution to the Lynx.<\/p>\n “Again, in signing Bri for the first eight games only, she could just turn up and mail it in \u2014 ‘Oh, not really feeling it tonight’, not try or not whatever, Petrik added.<\/p>\n “Just not in her character. She just came in day one: ‘What are we doing? Yep, let\u2019s go’. Wants to win, ultra-competitive, plays the backside off every second of every game. Zero maintenance \u2014 which again, for an elite player like herself, is really rare.<\/p>\n “Generally the higher up the player is, the more maintenance that comes with them. And that kind of makes some sense. And especially in this case \u2014 she\u2019s a rental essentially, she\u2019s only here for eight games \u2014 maybe she\u2019ll be high drama, high work. <\/p>\n “She\u2019s been none of it. It\u2019s been so low maintenance. <\/p>\n “Elite character. Elite human. The fact she can play is a bonus. <\/p>\n “We always knew she could play \u2014 we just didn\u2019t know enough about the off-court stuff. <\/p>\n “We\u2019d done enough homework, but again, for an eight-game sample size maybe she mails it in. <\/p>\n “She\u2019s done anything but that, and we\u2019re really, really thankful she\u2019s here.”<\/p>\n About the Author<\/p>\n Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women\u2019s Youth League<\/a> team in the Waratah Basketball League <\/a>in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women\u2019s team in the NBL East Conference<\/a>. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News<\/a> in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory\u2019s senior men\u2019s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA<\/a>. Basketball is his passion \u2014 and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au<\/a> with feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Petrik reveals Brianna Turner served as Han Xu\u2019s “stand-in” as Perth await the 2.08m star\u2019s arrival. Chinese superstar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-295927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/691a4758ea9b93b261604dae_GettyImages-1601916351.jpg\")
Han Xu #21 of the New York Liberty poses for a photo after winning the 2023 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship against the Las Vegas Aces on August 16, 2023 (AEDT) at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: David Becker\/NBAE via Getty ImagesPlayer Profile\u200dName: Han Xu\u200dPronunciation: shooPosition: Centre\u200dShoots: Right\u200dHeight \/ Weight: 6’10” (208 cm) \/ 193 lb (87 kg)\u200dBorn: October 31, 1999 \u2014 Shijiazhuang, China\u200dAge: 26 years, 17 days (as of date listed)\u200dInstagram: @hanxu_521<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/691a464d96293a7f8b5810f8_GettyImages-2246127266.jpg\")
Brianna Turner of the Lynx looks on pre-game during the round four WNBL match between Geelong Venom and Perth Lynx at Geelong Arena on November 11, 2025 in Geelong. Photo: Kelly Defina\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n