By Rowan Fisher-Shotton0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.After a five-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the WNBA, the Minnesota Lynx moved up in ESPN's latest power rankings, putting them in sole possession of first place in the league.
This is a team that started the season ranked No. 9 overall, quietly climbed to No. 2 last week, and now owns the top spot outright.
Just last week alone, the Lynx went 3-0 and made it look easy. The Atlanta Dream fell 96-81 at Minnesota in a game where the Lynx dominated the first and third quarters. Then came a suffocating 79-58 beatdown of the Chicago Sky on Friday. And to cap it all off, Minnesota mauled the host Phoenix Mercury 111-77 in their first Commissioner's Cup game on Monday night, the 34-point margin of victory being the largest in the WNBA this season.
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Oh, and star forward Napheesa Collier hasn't even played yet. She's still recovering from ankle surgery.
As the calendar turns to June, the Lynx are making a strong case that they belong at the center of the championship conversation.
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One of the biggest drivers right now is Courtney Williams. She posted a season-high 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting against Phoenix on Monday, and that came less than a week after she dropped 25 on the Dream, at the time a season-high.
Now in her 10th season, she's averaging a career-high 17.8 points along with 5.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 50% from the field and 44.4% from deep.
Alongside her, rookie Olivia Miles is averaging 15.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in her first WNBA season, giving the Lynx a true all-around engine.
Miles has scored double figures in her first nine games this season, tying the longest streak by a Lynx rookie in franchise history alongside Seimone Augustus and Tonya Edwards.
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Now the Lynx have something to chase. The 2026 WNBA Commissioner's Cup presented by Coinbase features a 49-game schedule from June 1-17, with the championship game on June 30.
The winning roster splits a $500,000 prize pool, and history strongly suggests the Cup is a preview of October.
The Cup winner went on to reach the WNBA Finals in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and Minnesota previously won the trophy in 2024 before falling to the Indiana Fever last year.
The Lynx ultimately fell to the New York Liberty in five games in the 2024 WNBA Finals, and the 2022 Las Vegas Aces remain the only team to win both the Commissioner's Cup and the Finals in the same season.
But with Collier's return on the horizon and the current roster already performing at this level, there's a realistic chance the Lynx join that list.
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