Lynx star Olivia Miles joins extremely rare Paige Bueckers club

The Minnesota Lynx have been one of the best teams in the WNBA this season, even while Napheesa Collier is recovering from her ankle injuries. A big reason for that has been star rookie Olivia Miles, who has been one of the best point guards in the W in her first season.

For former TCU star continued that on Wednesday night with a monster performance in a 99-83 win over the Los Angeles Sparks in Minnesota’s final game of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup. Miles stuffed the stat sheet in the win, with 31 points on an incredible 12-of-15 shooting with four rebounds and four assists.

With this performance, Miles joins Dallas wings star Paige Bueckers as the only rookies since 2000 with 30 or more points in a game on 80% shooting or better from the field, per StatMuse.

Even after getting this win to improve to 12-3 on the season, the Las Vegas Aces secured the second spot in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game with a win over the Phoenix Mercury. They will take on the New York Liberty on June 30 for the title.

Now that they are officially out of contention for the Commissioner’s Cup, the Lynx can fully turn their attention to a push for a WNBA title when Collier comes back. While there wasn’t a ton of optimism on that front to start the season due to Collier’s injury issues, Miles’ rookie year has restored faith in the Lynx as a true contender. She is averaging 18.1 points per game to lead the team while also adding five rebounds and a team-high 5.9 assists per game.

The No. 2 overall pick has made a joke out of the race for the Rookie of the Year award, and is instead making a very strong case to be All-WNBA as a rookie. The guard room is a crowded one in the WNBA, including the likes of Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and many others, but Miles has proven that she already belongs in that elite group despite only having been in the league for a few months.

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