Minnesota Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve was named WNBA Coach of the Year and Basketball Executive of the Year

Cheryl Reeve’s 2010 rookie season as head coach at Minnesota was rocky, but she secured the franchise the No. 1 overall pick in Maya Moore, ushering in a decade of excellence.

That fluctuated in the previous two seasons, as the Lynx fell below .500 in consecutive years for the first time in Reeves’ tenure. They were overlooked in free agency in the preseason without other franchises’ star-studded signings, but that didn’t matter.

The Lynx are back on top with a No. 2 seed in the playoffs, a 2024 Commissioner’s Cup trophy and a record fourth Coach of the Year award for Reeve and Executive of the Year. The league announced the voting results Sunday before Game 1 of the semifinals. The Lynx host the No. 3 Sun at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Reeve received 62 of 67 votes for Coach of the Year from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. New York head coach Sandy Brondello received four votes and Indiana head coach Christie Sides received one.

Reeve was also named Executive of the Year, which is a three-person vote of each team’s top executives. Leaders cannot vote for themselves. Reeve, who is also the Lynx’s president of basketball operations, received 10 points. Seattle’s Talisa Rhea received eight and Connecticut’s Darius Taylor received seven.

Reeve was named Coach of the Year in 2011, one of seven coaches to win the award in the same year as a WNBA championship. She also won in 2016 and 2020. Van Chancellor and Mike Thibault, the league’s winningest coach, each won the award three times. Reeve joins Curt Miller (2017, Sun) as the only coaches to be named Coach and Basketball Executive of the Year in the same season. Most organizations have separated workplaces.

The Lynx posted a 19-21 record last year, but earned a sixth-place playoff finish and forced a Game 3 against the Connecticut Sun in the first round. Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Diamond Miller and reserve Bridget Carleton returned, while the front office signed point guard Courtney Williams and forward Alanna Smith.

Reeve has put all the pieces together for a title contender that she describes as a “collective” rather than a superteam like New York or Seattle. The Lynx finished second in defensive rating and fourth in offensive rating, ahead of 10th and 8th respectively. They won the Commissioner’s Cup against favorite Liberty and won the season series against both the Liberty and the Aces. Both franchises returned their entire starting lineups from the 2023 Finals.

Collier, who was named Defensive Player of the Year, received all but a single MVP vote behind leader A’ja Wilson and is the anchor of the Lynx defense. Reeve said she told Collier during her 2023 exit interview that she needed to be at that level for the team to take the next step. McBride is having one of the best 3-point shooting seasons of her career, as are most of the Lynx. Carleton is more confident and comes late to success. Williams averaged a team-best 5.5 assists per game.