{"id":594026,"date":"2026-04-19T17:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594026\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T17:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:22:09","slug":"why-minnesota-lynx-free-agency-losses-might-not-be-the-body-blow-they-seem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594026\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Minnesota Lynx Free Agency Losses Might Not Be the Body Blow They Seem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"56\">The expansion draft and free agency were tough for the Minnesota Lynx. They lost Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard, Natisha Hiedeman, DiJonai Carrington, and Maria Kliundikova. Losing Smith and Shepard hurt especially, but it may not be quite as bad as it may seem.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"59\">The Lynx <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/womens-fastbreak\/2026-wnba-draft-grades-evaluating-each-team-s-selections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">landed Olivia Miles with the second-overall pick <\/a>in the draft despite finishing the regular season with the best record in the league, and they will welcome back a newly-crowned EuroLeague MVP to bolster the frontcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5c\">Dorka Juhasz sat out the 2025 season in the W due to the wear-and-tear on her body from playing in Europe, in the W, and for the Hungarian national team year-round. Now, she looks ready to play her best WNBA season yet.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">Juhasz averaged 12.8 points, 8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1 steal for Galatasaray Cagdas Factoring Istanbul over 18 EuroLeague games, and led her team to a date with a stacked Fenerbahce team in the EuroLeague finals. At 26, she is the youngest EuroLeague MVP winner to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Juhasz\u2019s return could be huge for the Lynx<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpk4py9s3a3wzxp116.jpg\" alt=\"Dorka Juhasz, Minnesota Lynx\" title=\"Dorka Juhasz, Minnesota Lynx\" width=\"1605\" height=\"1070\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5s\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jun 25, 2024; Belmont Park, New York, USA;  Minnesota Lynx forward Dorka Juhasz (14) at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">Cheryl Reeve said in a post-draft media availability a few days ago that Juhasz was expected to return to the Lynx for the 2026 season. Getting Juhasz back would be huge either way for a team that lost three of its four most important frontcourt players from last season, but it\u2019s especially big after the season she just had.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">Juhasz will be able to replace much of the size, rebounding, and versatility the Lynx lost with Smith\u2019s and Shepard\u2019s exits. She tied with Awak Kuier for the most total rebounds in the EuroLeague and shot the three at a much more efficient clip than the Lynx ever saw her do in her two WNBA seasons\u201436.6% during EuroLeague competition and 40% in the Turkish league.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">Losing two starters, including the reigning co-DPOY, and a bunch of key reserves made for a brutal free agency period for the Lynx. But Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Natasha Howard, Olivia Miles, and Dorka Juhasz still make for a pretty good group to build around and compete with.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">The question is just whether it will be enough <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/womens-fastbreak\/wnba\/wnba-contender-rankings-aces-liberty-fever-lead-clear-top-tier-01kpbgrvp3b1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">to truly contend with<\/a> teams like the Las Vegas Aces, New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream, and Indiana Fever. Juhasz will be crucial to the Lynx\u2019s efforts to keep up with players like A\u2019ja Wilson, Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Bri Jones, Angel Reese, and Aliyah Boston, especially while Collier is still recovering from her ankle surgeries. But, ultimately, the Lynx\u2019s overall success will all come down to Collier\u2019s availability and ability to play at an MVP level.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The expansion draft and free agency were tough for the Minnesota Lynx. They lost Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-594026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594026","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=594026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}