Sports
Reusse: The reason the WNBA is growing more popular is simple — the players are better
The Lynx’s semifinal victory over the Mercury featured the “who is that?” moments that indicate the depth of the league’s talent.
By Patrick Reusse
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 22, 2025 at 1:22AM
The Lynx’s Alanna Smith, with teammate Napheesa Collier hollering approval, celebrates a basket and the assist that led to it in Sunday’s victory over Phoenix. (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Lynx demonstrated that, indeed, the new WNBA can be unpredictable, and after this 34-10 regular season, they are hoping that’s not the catch.
That unpredictability showed up in the earlier semifinal Sunday, when the injured, upstart Indiana Fever blew out the host Las Vegas Aces 89-73.
This came on the same day the Aces’ A’ja Wilson won a fourth MVP award, leaving behind Collier in the voting.
Vegas coach Becky Hammon was ripping her team’s defense after that Fever thumping — only a couple of days after suggesting it was absurd that Wilson was made to share the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award with the Lynx’s Alanna Smith.
She described Wilson as an “elk” and Smith as a “white-tailed deer” in her anguished metaphor. And after the semifinal playoff openers, the standings are: Elk 0-1; Deer 1-0.
about the writer
Patrick Reusse
Columnist
Patrick Reusse is a sports columnist who writes three columns per week.
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