No Offseason Newsletter 🏀 | This is The Athletic’s women’s basketball newsletter. Sign up here to receive No Offseason directly in your inbox.Welcome back to No Offseason. Today:
⭐ Olivia Miles is on a heater
Let’s go.Breakout Star: Better than Clark or Bueckers?The expectation ahead of the 2026 WNBA Draft was that this group wouldn’t produce a generational superstar. For all the talent atop the draft, including a couple of multi-time All-Americans and national champions plus the Spanish sensation Awa Fam, there was no one who would seemingly set the league on fire like Paige Bueckers or Caitlin Clark.It’s early, but it’s fair to say that assumption was wrong … whoops.Not only is Olivia Miles already on the shortlist of the coolest players in the WNBA — the goggles alone would do the trick, not to mention the nightly must-see dimes — she is already among the most impactful. Heading into yesterday’s games, Miles was leading the league in win shares (2.2), eclipsing reigning MVP A’ja Wilson for the top spot. Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx have made do without a traditional point guard since current assistant Lindsay Whalen retired from playing in 2018, and they haven’t exactly been suffering in the interim. But Miles, a true floor general, has unlocked the potential of everyone on the roster. Miles is spoon-feeding free-agent frontcourt acquisitions Natasha Howard and Nia Coffey on the pick-and-roll. Plus, Courtney Williams is back to her baddest, bucket-getting self as a 2-guard, averaging a career-high 17.1 points on a career-best 48.5 percent shooting from the field.The two greatest rookie guard seasons in WNBA history belong to Clark and Bueckers, respectively, and Miles — the No. 2 pick out of TCU — is well on her way to matching or even exceeding their production.
