With training camp and the preseason over, the Minnesota Lynx open the 2025 WNBA regular season on May 16 against the Dallas Wings in Texas.
The time has finally come.
Training camp is completed, preseason play is over, rosters have been finalized around the WNBA, and it’s officially time for the start of the 2025 regular season.
The record-high 44-game regular season tips off league-wide on Friday, with a trio of games filling the schedule on Opening Night.
Part of that slate of games includes the Minnesota Lynx traveling to take on the Dallas Wings in Texas, not only the first action of the season in general but also the first time we will see the reloaded Lynx squad and the Wings’ rookie sensation — and Minnesota native — Paige Bueckers.
The Lynx concluded a two-game preseason slate against the Chicago Sky, leading up to the regular season, splitting those games with the Sky. Minnesota enters the new campaign coming off a 2024 season where it stormed onto the scene and came one game shy of winning the WNBA Finals against the New York Liberty.
“We’re close. I think we have a pretty good idea of what we are going to look like,” Cheryl Reeve said. “Now we just have to improve in a couple of areas, try to be a little bit better, and get ready for Dallas.”
Something that plays into Minnesota’s favor that already sets itself apart from the rest of the league is the fact that this team is awfully similar, if not better, than it was during the Finals team a year ago. Everyone is familiar with each other, and the chemistry is there, which has been noticeable in training camp and in preseason action.
“We have a huge advantage coming back from last year. We talked about this, we’re not going to pick up where we left off in the final game of the season last year. There’s going to be another learning curve,” Napheesa Collier said. “But it’s not going to take until the middle of season like if we were a new team, but we’re going to have a couple days where we are trying to find it. I feel like we are finding it really fast. … We’re definitely at an advantage there.”
Though the Lynx might be farther along in the process of getting acclimated as a team compared to the other 12 squads across the league, they know this isn’t 2024 anymore, and they still have to prove themselves in the attempt to return to where they were a season ago.
“We just want to continue to build our chemistry. I feel like we are looking more like ourselves, we’re feeling good on the court, and clicking a lot more. I just think we need to clean up the little things,” Collier said. “It’s a new season, we’re finding ourselves again, and it’s really fun.”
The 2025 season is finally upon us, and the Lynx’s “revenge tour” is officially underway. This year, they are driven to not just get to the point they were at a season ago, but surpass that by claiming the fifth WNBA title in franchise history.
“We know what we have to do. We are coming in every day, we keep stacking up days and not taking any shortcuts,” Courtney Williams said. “That’s where we want to be again and we want to get over that hump this year. … We’re just gonna keep that chip on our shoulders.”
Final Roster Announced
With the regular season here, the training camp roster has been officially narrowed down to 12 players as the Lynx get ready for the regular season.
Here’s the full final roster:
- Napheesa Collier
- Kayla McBride
- Courtney Williams
- Alanna Smith
- Bridget Carleton
- Natisha Hiedeman
- Karlie Samuelson
- Jessica Shepard
- Alissa Pili
- Marième Badiane
- Diamond Miller
- Anastasiia Olairi Kosu
Entering camp with roughly 20 players, the last few weeks have been full of hard decisions for the Lynx coaching staff and front office. The first larger wave of cuts included Kiara Leslie, Christyn Williams, Dalayah Daniels, Diamond Johnson, Camryn Taylor, and Ajae Petty.
The final few cuts included Reigan Richardson, who impressed the Lynx during camp, and Grace Berger, who some thought would be one of the final players to make the roster.
Along with the cuts, a surprise announcement was made the day after Minnesota’s preseason play concluded, with Dorka Juhász electing to sit out the 2025 season due to a personal decision.
Those moves, albeit tough decisions, ultimately brought the Lynx roster down to 12 as they now officially shift focus to getting the real games underway with the start of the regular season.