UPDATE: Tuesday afternoon, the Indiana Fever ruled Caitlin Clark out of the game with a groin injury.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever come to Minneapolis Tuesday night to face the Minnesota Lynx for the Commissioner's Cup Championship. The Commissioner’s Cup is the WNBA's annual in-season competition and the team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool.
Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve told the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar that adding the in-season tournament has added a little more meaning to the regular season games.
"I think it's made it really interesting in terms of, you know, we saw it in the NBA, we have this section of our season that makes regular season games a little, well, I would say more meaningful, but there's a little more heightened competition around it," says Reeve.
If the Lynx need any more meaning to their games? Look out WNBA. They already have the league's best schedule at 14-2 and are coming off a 102-63 blowout win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
"We weren't really happy with how we started in Connecticut and, you know, the defense that we had in Atlanta, even though we pulled it together at the end for that win," says Lynx star Napheesa Collier. "So we definitely wanted to make sure we had a good defensive game today, making sure we're taking away the things that they like to do. So I thought we did a good job."
Collier is on a roll herself. Despite battling through a couple of injury issues already this year, she is on pace for an MVP season. Collier and Clar, her opponent in the Commissioner's Cup Championship game, will captain the WNBA All-Star Game next month.
Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 per game. Her daughter surprised her wearing a shirt saying “Mama you're a All-Star,” as she scooted into the locker room with former Lynx great Sylvia Fowles right behind her to let Collier know the news.
“It’s really cool,” Collier said to reporters before warming up for a game Sunday night “I went from never being a starter to captain.”
This will be her fifth All-Star appearance. Clark and Collier also led the initial fan voting.
"Man, I think it means everything, honestly," said Collier's teammate Courtney Williams. "I mean, she's been putting the work in, she's having an amazing season, obviously our team is not as good if not for Napheesa Collier, man. So I love seeing her being rewarded. This is exactly where she's supposed to be, so go do your big one twin."
And it's that kind of support from teammates that Collier credits with making the Lynx the best team in the WNBA so far.
"I just feel so lucky that not only are we good, but that we gel so well and that we genuinely like, love and respect and appreciate each other and have each other's backs," Collier explains. "It's just really special to be a part of a team like that, we said for two years now. It's hard to find in professional sports and the fact that we have it feels really special."
It's also a new era for the Lynx on the ownership front. Just last week, the NBA Board of Governors announced they gave final approval for the sale of the Timberwolves-Lynx franchise to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, ending decades of ownership from Glen Taylor. Reeve says that it's a good thing, being able to put that difficult transition behind them.
"You know, obviously as things got strained, it was a little bit awkward for everybody," Reeve told WCCO. "But they have shown a great deal of interest and support, which I really appreciated. I'm excited about what lies ahead for their ownership of the Timberwolves and Lynx."
WNBA announces expansion plans
The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.
Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.
“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”
All three new teams announced Monday have NBA ownership groups. Each paid a $250 million expansion fee, which is about five times as much as Golden State dished out for a team a few years ago. All three teams will also be investing more money through building practice facilities and other such amenities.