The pain was visible on Kayla McBrides face.
The 2025 Minnesota Lynxs season was over. No more minutes to play, shots to get up, rebounds to chase down or stops to create. Instead, only time to reflect.
Its never about anything else but each other, McBride said, fighting back tears after the Lynxs season-ending 86-81 loss to the Phoenix Mercury in Game 4 of their best-of-five WNBA semifinals. To be close two years in a row, and hit adverse situations each and every time for the people that you love, your sisters, your family, (this) fing hurts. Its hard, especially when you lay everything out there.
The Lynx did leave everything out on the PHX Arena floor on Sunday night, when their mission to return to the WNBA Finals ended a year after falling short in the title series last season. McBride especially put up a fight, scoring a playoff career-high 31 points and nearly single-handedly forcing a Game 5. But after losses in three consecutive games, the top-seeded Lynxs season came to an abrupt halt.
McBride, Minnesotas oldest player, knows golden opportunities dont come around often.
I wouldnt trade that locker room for anything, she said.
Windows are short in professional sports. Year-over-year success is never guaranteed. McBride is aware of that, hence her pain.
What has made Minnesotas last two seasons (64 combined regular-season wins, the most of any franchise) all the more impressive is that the team has won despite not signing the highest-profile free agents. Instead, the Lynx have succeeded by signing players who Cheryl Reeve, the coach and team president, was adamant would fit together as seamlessly as possible.
Minnesotas sum remains better than its individual parts. Its team-building has undoubtedly been successful, and players such as Alanna Smith, Courtney Williams and McBride have either had career years or, at the very least, late-career revivals.
Yet, its a tall task to continue to hit home run after home run. Not every move in free agency is bound to achieve as much success, especially when the leagues upcoming offseason could be its most chaotic ever with almost every veteran player on the market.
The 2025 Lynx started the season ahead of the 2024 Lynx. The familiarity players on this years team had with one another, and with Reeve, made a tangible difference in their quest to return to the finals. They knew what they had in their core.
Star forward Napheesa Collier knew where Williams liked the ball, and from where the crafty guard enjoyed pulling up. (Williams made her second All-Star team in July.) Collier, who eventually finished second in MVP voting, knew that her frontcourt partner Smith, a future co-Defensive Player of the Year, could stretch the floor on the perimeter, and how much ground Smith could cover on defense. Collier said in April that the Lynx were starting at such a higher place.
But on Sunday, the Lynxs season came to an end a round short of where they ended last season. Continuity, and a drive to achieve what had slipped away in last years finals loss to the New York Liberty, bred a historic season a Lynx franchise-record 34 wins and a team that led the league in offensive and defensive ratings. Yet, it didnt bring the culminating moment it worked desperately to achieve.
On Sunday, using just seven players, the Lynx squandered an 11-point lead after the first quarter, and a 13-point lead after the third quarter. After being outscored 56-30 in the fourth quarter of their Game 2 and 3 losses against the Mercury, the Lynx were outscored 31-13 in the fourth quarter. That all is uncharacteristic, considering the Lynx led the league in fourth quarter net rating this season. Figuring how to avoid similar lulls in key moments will be another critical offseason task.
I think we just didnt get enough quality shots down the stretch, said Lynx associate head coach Eric Thibault.
Reeve was not on the sideline, as she served a one-game suspension for her outburst in the waning seconds and aftermath of Game 3. Neither was Collier, who was out with an injury she sustained in the previous game. She welcomed the Lynx onto the court with their nightly pregame chant, but she was then relegated to the bench.
She wore a boot on her left ankle and needed a medical scooter to maneuver around. The Lynx are left with questions about what could have been this season had Collier remained healthy.
But they are also left to confront another reality: The WNBA is also in an era of hyper-change.
The Golden State Valkyries entered the WNBA this past season as Minnesota lost key reserve wing Cecilia Zandalasini in the expansion draft. With the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire entering the league next spring, two more Minnesota players are almost guaranteed to be reallocated
Then, there is an all-hands-on-deck free agency, in which practically every veteran is on the market. Minnesota will be aggressive filling whatever holes spring up, and Reeve has proven to be resourceful.
The 2025 Lynx seemed to have a winning recipe, but theyre unlikely to return in the same form.
Last years finals loss stung because the Lynx came so close. In Reeves words, the title was stolen out from under them.
This season, it was almost cruel that the Lynx didnt get to go out at full strength. Its why McBride felt such hurt on Sunday.
But thats the reality the Lynx are forced to confront this offseason.
I would feel like this 100 times over to be with the people that Ive been with, McBride said. Thats why its painful. Because you just want it to keep going.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, WNBA
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