Despite the fact that the now-eliminated Minnesota Lynx owned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, head coach Cheryl Reeve didn't consider the 2026 campaign to be championship-or-bust.
"There are sometimes when you have that team and that would be the case, you should feel that way," Reeve told reporters after the New York Liberty's 87-71 series-clinching win over the Lynx, including ESPN's Alexa Philippou. "I have not felt like we've had that team over these three years, and so what we're doing is sort of maybe exceeding expectations in the regular season, and then when it comes playoffs, maybe we don't quite have the right group to be effective."
With Tuesday's defeat, the Lynx became the first No. 1 seed in history to be swept in the opening round of the postseason.
Minnesota's arguably been the best team over the last three seasons, yet it has no titles to show for it. The Lynx fell in five games to the Liberty in the 2024 WNBA Finals and were upset by the Phoenix Mercury in last year's semifinals.
Minnesota went 33-11 this season to finish atop the WNBA standings for the second straight campaign. Reeve won Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time, while Olivia Miles was the unanimous Rookie of the Year winner.
Miles' addition to the Lynx's core of Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, and Courtney Williams still wasn't enough to get the team over the hump. Now, Minnesota faces the prospect of losing Collier, a perennial MVP candidate, in free agency this offseason.
Reeve, who also serves as the club's president of basketball operations, knows it's her responsibility to get the right pieces in place for next season.
"I just know we have some work to do," Reeve said. "I have to help us. I have to get us the appropriate help to do it, make the hard decisions to do that. I couldn't get us there in this series, and so it's on me.
"I have to help them win in the playoffs ... both as an executive and as the coach, and I'll find a way to do that."
