{"id":594964,"date":"2026-04-20T05:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594964\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T05:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:09:15","slug":"minnesota-lynx-hope-dorka-juhasz-can-carry-mvp-play-back-to-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594964\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Lynx Hope Dorka Juh\u00e1sz Can Carry MVP Play Back to WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time we saw Dorka Juh\u00e1sz step on a WNBA court was on Oct. 4, 2024 in Game 3 of a best-of-three semifinals matchup against the Connecticut Sun that ultimately ended the Minnesota Lynx\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

Since then, she has not suited up for the Lynx while remaining overseas and focusing on rest, but has been putting in work across the globe \u2014 and that time away has paid off.<\/p>\n

Juh\u00e1sz, who took off the 2024 WNBA season, is expected to return in 2026 and will have a big opportunity ahead of her in Minnesota with the absence of numerous key players leaving this offseason in free agency.<\/p>\n

But as Lynx training camp began Sunday in Minneapolis, Juh\u00e1sz wasn\u2019t present \u2014 yet. That\u2019s because she has been finishing up what has been a historic season in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Juh\u00e1sz has spent her offseason playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, taking on a new team and a new country rather than playing in Italy like we\u2019ve seen in the past. Along with playing in Turkey-KBSL and EuroLeague action with Galatasaray, she also suited up for her home country of Hungary in five games as part of the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul.<\/p>\n

With Galatasaray, Juh\u00e1sz didn\u2019t just have a good season \u2014 she had an MVP season. Last weekend, Juh\u00e1sz took home EuroLeague MVP honors, becoming the youngest player to ever be named the league\u2019s MVP at the age of 26. The winners of the EuroLeague awards are determined by a combination of votes from EuroLeague coaches, players, selected media and fans.<\/p>\n

FIBA Basketball noted, along with an MVP season on the floor, Juh\u00e1sz showcased the ability to lead Galatasaray this season and be the centerpiece of the club\u2019s return to elite competition.<\/p>\n

\u201dI am shocked and I am super grateful (to win MVP),\u201d Juh\u00e1sz told FIBA Basketball<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s something you don\u2019t expect; you just come to play every single day. I was happy to just be in the conversation with two other amazing players. \u2026 (my team) put me in a position to step up as a leader. Since everyone was fairly new when this team was formed, there was space for me to take on that leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy I could take that step, because they believed in me and put me in positions to be successful,\u201d Juh\u00e1sz continued. \u201cThis is the icing on the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the course of the season, Juh\u00e1sz put up strong numbers in EuroLeague play. In 18 games, Juh\u00e1sz posted 12.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks over 24.6 minutes, adding shooting marks of 56.7% from inside of the arc and 36.6% from three. In Turkey-KBSL action, Juh\u00e1sz also averaged 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks over 23.6 minutes in 19 games.<\/p>\n

\u201dPlaying in EuroLeague Women was always one of my goals,\u201d Juh\u00e1sz told FIBA Basketball<\/a>. When I was 16 and playing in EuroCup Women, that was what I wanted to accomplish. If I could ask my younger self back then what I wanted to achieve, being here would be one of my wildest dreams. \u2026 This year has been truly remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of her efforts, Juh\u00e1sz was crowned EuroLeague MVP, beating out some strong competition such as fellow MVP finalists Emma Meesseman (Fenerbahce) and Iliana Rupert (Fenerbahce). As a result, Juh\u00e1sz was also named All-EuroLeague Women First Team alongside Meesseman, Rupert, Julie Allemand (Fenerbahce) and Leila Lacan (Basket Landes).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Juh\u00e1sz wasn\u2019t able to complete the historic season with Galatasaray, sitting out the EuroLeague Final against Fenerbahce<\/a> due to a right ankle injury that she had a boot on at the time of the MVP presentation.<\/p>\n

Now with the EuroLeague postseason over, where Galatasaray finished second after falling to Fenerbahce in the Final on Sunday, focus shifts to getting Juh\u00e1sz fully healthy and back to Minnesota where she is expected to return this summer after taking a year off.<\/p>\n

Juh\u00e1sz will have a nice opportunity ahead of her, with the soon-to-be third-year forward and former second-round draft pick getting the chance to see more playing time following the departures of Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard in free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s excited about the opportunity that she has,\u201d Cheryl Reeve said after the WNBA Draft on April 13<\/a>. \u201cNow, there\u2019s opportunity for Dorka that I think we\u2019re all excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Photo by David Dow\/NBAE via Getty Images NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Over the first two years of her career with the Lynx, Juh\u00e1sz averaged 5.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks over 20.4 minutes in 72 career games. In her rookie season in 2023, Juh\u00e1sz started in 27 of her 38 appearances, but was primarily in a bench role most of her sophomore season ni 2024.<\/p>\n

After taking the 2025 campaign off, Minnesota is hoping Juh\u00e1sz will replicate what was seen from Shepard in 2025 after she too took the prior season off to remain overseas.<\/p>\n

And if what Juh\u00e1sz has been able to do overseas leading up to the 2026 WNBA season \u2014 both as a leader and with her talent on the court \u2014 she should be able to hit the ground running and carve out a key role with the Lynx this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time we saw Dorka Juh\u00e1sz step on a WNBA court was on Oct. 4, 2024 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[44161,1077,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-594964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-lynx-news","9":"tag-minnesota-lynx","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594964","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=594964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}