Golden State Valkyries Expansion Draft Speculation Series: Minnesota Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx made a couple of key decisions in the offseason that helped them fill out the rest of the starting lineup, a group that ended up fitting together perfectly. The team won the Commissioner’s Cup, but fell just short in the WNBA Finals and missed the chance to win both trophies in the same year. The depth that the team used to get through the campaign is what will give the Valkyries the opportunity to select a player who can contribute or to take a risk on a younger player. Beyond the obvious choices, the Lynx will have a difficult decision on who else to protect and they could very well offer Golden State a trade to influence their selection so that will be one more strategic decision for this process.

Salary and contract status for 2025 from Her Hoop Stats as sourced by Richard Cohen:
https://herhoopstats.com/salary-cap-sheet/wnba/team/2024/minnesota-lynx-11eaecc7-357c-772c-b611-2362f5011b0b/

Hypothetical Protection Priority Order

1. Napheesa Collier ($214,284)
2. Kayla McBride ($205,000 guaranteed)
3. Bridget Carleton ($125,000)
4. Alanna Smith ($150,000 guaranteed)
5. Courtney Williams ($180,000 guaranteed)
6. Diamond Miller ($83,371, 3rd year rookie scale)
7. Dorka Juhasz ($73,258, 3rd year rookie scale)
8. Cecilia Zandalasini (reserved)
9. Jessica Shepard (exclusive negotiating rights)
10. Alissa Pili ($74,909, 2nd year rookie scale)
11. Maia Hirsch (draft rights)
12. Olivia Epoupa (reserved)
13. Natisha Hiedeman (unrestricted free agent)
14. Myisha Hines-Allen (unrestricted free agent)

Locks for Protection

On a team that utilizes depth and balance, Napheesa Collier is still the star and the forward is likely to be the first name on the list after a spectacular season. The other established star is wing Kayla McBride and she is also under contract already along with the rest of the starting lineup. Bridget Carleton earned a spot in the starting lineup at the other wing spot this season and had a big jump in production and will also be an easy protection decision with a lower, unguaranteed salary locked in for next season. The team made two big offseason free agency moves in signing a pair of starters from Chicago. Alanna Smith was brought in to play center and had a great season there. Courtney Williams took over starting point guard duties and is also on a guaranteed contract at a higher amount than Smith.

Tough Team Decisions

Minnesota drafted two players last year who ended up sticking on the roster and the final spot could end up coming down to one of the two players. Diamond Miller was picked second overall and showed promise as a rookie while starting at a forward spot, but her recovery from injury affected her ability to contribute this season. The team will have to decide between possibly losing a high draft pick for nothing if she is able to regain her health and ability next year and using the spot on a player who had a bigger role this season. Dorka Juhasz was picked in the second round, but started most of the season and played well before settling into more of a backup center role this year. She can clearly contribute on a championship contender, but there could be worries in the future about either club commitments or time missed to play for Hungary’s national team.

After not playing in the league since 2018, Cecilia Zandalasini returned to the team to provide versatility as a backup wing. She still only has enough service time to be under reserved status and the team could decide to leave her unprotected knowing that her year-to-year availability and possibly not being interested in playing for another team would reduce her value to a picking team. Alissa Pili was the team’s first draft pick this year, but she is unlikely to protected even if they do not want to give up on developing her to be a frontcourt option, because they will likely have higher priorities for protection.

Once the previous CBA was published, there was a lot of concern about whether established players would be kept out of the league. This season was the one that really had the first casualty of the rule and it affected this team. Jessica Shepard had two existing contracts, one with the Minnesota Lynx and one with Reyer Venezia in Italy that did not give her the ability to leave early. Once the Italian league announced their schedule for last season and it was pretty clear that Reyer would qualify for the semifinals, taking their season beyond the May 1st deadline for her to report to Minnesota, she opted to have the team suspend her contract early to give them the flexibility to free up salary cap space to make other moves at the start of free agency instead of waiting until it was guaranteed that Reyer’s season would not end in time. That situation meant that the Lynx still hold her exclusive negotiating rights as her contract expired this year. While she might no longer be as high of a priority for protection, the possibility of getting her provedn frontcourt production on a lower salary would certainly put her in strong consideration to be picked. She is playing for Athinaikos in Greece this year, which should leave her available to return next season and it should be clearer by the expansion draft whether she could miss time next season to play for Slovenia’s national team.

Likely Left Unprotected

After trading her away at the trade deadline, the team signed Olivia Epoupa back at the end of the season to provide point guard insurance from the last roster spot. She played limited minutes after making a roster for the first time so her rights are reserved this coming offseason, but she will not be considered for protection. Minnesota also has the rights to another French player, young center Maia Hirsch, after drafting her at the end of the first round last year. While she certainly still has promise after earning that early pick, she has suffered a worrisome number of injuries recently and would not be protected with all of the other options ahead of her.

The team has two players who will be unrestricted free agents in the offseason, and neither is at the level where they would be candidates for the core designation and would not need to be protected. Minnesota traded for Natisha Hiedeman before the season to make sure that they had quality point guard coverage at all times and she did well in her role so she could be a candidate for the Valkyries in regular free agency. The Lynx also traded for Myisha Hines-Allen before the trade deadline and she contributed some strong minutes as a backup in the post, but did not get much time by the end of the playoffs.

The Valkyries Perspective

With the team chemistry displayed all season long, Minnesota is going to be motivated to try to keep as much of the group together as possible. They likely to be one of the teams that will actively offer the Valkyries a trade to secure either additional protection that would leave Golden State with an asset in exchange for fewer options for picks or possibly the more costly option of giving up an asset to get Golden State to specifically choose one of the least urgent protection priorities, like the rights to Olivia Epoupa or Maia Hirsch.

The Valkyries will have to weigh that offer against the option to pick from a number of proven players or young prospects that the Lynx will be forced to leave unprotected. There is some expectation that Diamond Miller could be left available as she has not been able to contribute as much this year, but she is still considered a high-level talent. If Miller is protected, that would likely leave Dorka Juhasz available and she is still young, but has already shown the ability to contribute to the rotation. More experienced players like Cecilia Zandalasini and Jessica Shepard are also likely to be available while Golden State could also consider Minnesota’s most recently drafted player Alissa Pili.