Olivia Miles keeps giving the Minnesota Lynx more than they bargained for.
The rookie guard was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for games from June 1-7, the first such honor of her career. She’s just the third rookie in franchise history to win it, joining Seimone Augustus in 2006 and Napheesa Collier in 2019, two of the most important players the organization has ever had.
Miles guided Minnesota through a 3-0 week that pushed its win streak to seven, with victories over Phoenix, Golden State and Seattle, averaging 22.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.3 blocks. The box score numbers were impressive, but so was her efficiency as she finished the week shooting 64.1% from the field, 64.3% from 3-point range and 87.5% from the line.
A dominant Week 4 performance
Olivia Miles earns Western Conference Player of the Week honors after posting 22.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 7.7 APG to lead the Minnesota Lynx.#WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/6J72qyo4hR
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 9, 2026
Miles became the first rookie to earn the award since Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese each pulled it off during their 2024 debut seasons.
Head coach Cheryl Reeve, who said on draft night that Miles was one of two players in the class with generational skills, has already upgraded that take.
“What I said on draft night is that there were two players that had generational skills,” Reeve said. “I would now classify her as a generational talent.”
Olivia Miles Rewrites the Rookie Record Book
The week was full of firsts. Miles opened it June 1 with the first double-double of her career, putting up 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals in a 111-77 rout of Phoenix.
Three nights later, she broke the WNBA rookie record for 3-pointers in a game, hitting 8-of-11 from deep on her way to 28 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in an 87-84 win over Golden State. That also made her the second player in Lynx history to knock down 8 3-pointers in a game, alongside Kayla McBride.
Reeve didn’t see that one coming.
“Once she saw a couple go down, then it felt like she was playing Baylor again,” Reeve said, smiling. “It was not on our bingo cards, to be honest with you, but we’ll take it.”
Miles closed the week June 6 with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in an 88-68 win over Seattle.
The bigger record is one of consistency. Miles has scored in double figures in all 11 games to start her career, breaking Augustus’ franchise rookie record of 9.
A Passer the Lynx Don’t Try to Coach
What sets Miles apart is the part Reeve says she leaves alone.
“I don’t coach her passing at all. I try to stay out of the way of that,” Reeve said. “She just has an incredible, incredible gift.”
The impact shows up in the team’s numbers. Minnesota has outscored opponents by 20.1 points per 100 possessions with Miles on the floor and has been outscored by 5.0 points per 100 possessions when she sits, a swing few rookies anywhere can match.
“It’s really fun when you have a true point guard that understands the game and reads the game very well before she even gets the ball,” veteran forward Natasha Howard said. “She makes my job easy, and I make her job easy.”
Howard compared playing with Miles to playing with Hall of Fame point guard and current Lynx assistant Lindsay Whalen. Whalen didn’t shy away from it.
“Maybe, the only difference was I was maybe 13 years into my career,” Whalen said. “Some of the vision things are similar. I think she’s better. She’s a better passer than I was. I work with Liv every single day, so it’s really been a lot of fun. I’ll take the comparison.”
Olivia Miles Says the Fit Made It Easy
Miles has handled the jump about as smoothly as a rookie can, and she isn’t entirely surprised by that.
“Yes and no. I’m physically gifted. I’m a bigger guard, I can see over the defense, and I’ve played in big moments before, so none of this feels too big,” Miles said. “But at the same time, this is the W, so every night is an adjustment.”
During her appearance on Sue Bird’s “Bird’s Eye View,” Miles mentioned that Minnesota allowed her to be authentic from the start.
“Not many rookies just get to go in and just be themselves,” Miles said. “I’m just in a place where they actually want me to be me, run the team, make reads. That makes it a lot easier to come in as a rookie.”
Following her exceptional 3-point game, she emphasized the importance of comfort and feeling.
“I’ve always been able to shoot. I think it’s just about me feeling comfortable, taking the right shots, and finding my rhythm within our system,” Miles said. “They were going under the ball screens, which shows they respect my drive. So I just had to be confident and knock them down.”
Miles leads all rookies in scoring at 17.2 points per game, along with 6.4 assists, 1.3 steals and a 23.9 efficiency rating. She’s also pulling down 5.0 rebounds in 30.4 minutes a night while shooting 51.9% from the floor.
The Lynx close their three-game homestand Tuesday, June 9, against the Dallas Wings at 7 p.m. CT on Victory+. The finale doubles as a draft-night reunion, with the No. 2 pick facing Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 pick and the other player Reeve tagged with generational skills in April.
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