Olivia Miles Is Doing Just Fine Sharing the Spotlight With Napheesa Collier

When Napheesa Collier returned to the Lynx just ahead of the All-Star break, there was a level of concern about what that would mean for superstar rookie Olivia Miles.

Collier missed the first 27 games of the season as she recovered from offseason surgery on both of her ankles, while Miles’s immediate arrival alongside the stellar play of Natasha Howard, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams kept the Lynx atop the WNBA. Last season, Minnesota finished with a league-best 34–10 record behind an MVP-caliber season from Collier, the franchise’s longtime superstar.

Minnesota had the second pick in the WNBA draft thanks to a savvy trade with the Sky. Miles fell into Cheryl Reeve’s lap after Dallas took UConn star Azzi Fudd with the top pick, although the franchise could’ve gone for Spanish phenom Awa Fam, who Seattle chose with the third pick.

After an incredible collegiate career at Notre Dame and TCU, Miles was the only pick for a franchise in search of its guard of the future. She was a starter from day one with the Lynx and immediately arrived as one of the league’s best playmakers and craftiest scorers. Every step of the way, Miles has outdone herself.

First, she ran away with the Rookie of the Year conversation. The first chunk of her season was so good that there were All-WNBA murmurs. Then, she became an All-Star starter, which put her in some elite company among WNBA greats. A’ja Wilson remains the MVP frontrunner, but Miles continued her reign as the best player on the league’s best team as Minnesota separated itself from the rest of the pack, all without Collier. With that in mind, could Miles have an outside shot at the league’s highest honor?

Collier’s return was the biggest question for the remainder of Miles’s incredible first season. Not that anyone was dreading the five-time All-Star coming back to the lineup, but what would it mean for the rookie? Collier and Miles play two completely different positions and fill complementary needs on the floor, but the former will certainly need her steady diet of shots, which makes for less to go around in the already-clicking group.

If there was any concern, though, Miles silenced that real quick. A team-high 28 points in a Lynx win where Minnesota overcame a 37-point explosion from Kelsey Mitchell will do that.

The Napheesa Collier–Olivia Miles duo is everything we could’ve hoped for

Collier returned to her usual self after the long absence with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double in her first game back, which came just before the All-Star break. Miles was off from the floor that night as she finished with 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting with six assists in Minnesota’s win over the Storm.

Since then, it’s been all systems go for Miles with Minnesota’s superstar back in the mix. After Miles was two assists shy of a triple-double in the All-Star game, she’s averaged 22.7 points over the first three games after the break. A small sample size that includes a smaller shot diet for Collier, who’s taken between 12 and 13 shots a night after she had 20 field-goal attempts in her first game back. However, the win over the Fever is as good a proof of concept as any.

The Lynx overcame Mitchell’s big night and limited Caitlin Clark to snap Indiana’s five-game winning streak behind 28 points from Miles and 27 from Williams, plus 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists out of Collier. The victory expanded Minnesota’s win streak to 10 games as the team hasn’t lost in a month since it fell by one point to the lowly Sun on July 6.

With all the attention that Miles draws on the ball, it’s left Collier with more space to operate and the rookie guard can get Collier the ball better than anyone else in the league. That especially stood out in the signature win over the Fever, as Miles created multiple open three-point looks for Collier.

It was a standout night for Miles as her wizardry on drives and finishes near the rim were front and center. However, debatably the biggest positive was that the game outlined how the star duo could be at its best for the foreseeable future.

At 25–6, the Lynx are 3.5 games clear of the Aces and the Valkyries for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. With how Minnesota is rolling right now, that cushion will be difficult to climb for Las Vegas and Golden State. As of now, Minnesota’s path to the finals would be a first-round series with the Mystics, then a semifinals battle with either Indiana or Atlanta. Although the Lynx certainly hope the Liberty don’t drop to the No. 8 seed, the first five of Miles, Collier, Howard, Williams and McBride is the deepest and most talented lineup in the W.

That starts and stops with the newly formed pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop duo that’s looking like it can take Minnesota to a title in their first (and shortened) season together.

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