This was what we’ve been waiting for.
The New York Liberty entered the 2026 WNBA season among the championship favorites before injuries and inconsistencies defined a maddeningly mediocre regular season, resulting in them landing as the No. 8 seed in 2026 WNBA Playoffs.
On Tuesday night in Brooklyn, the Liberty didn’t necessarily prove that the regular season doesn’t matter, but that championship experience and superstar talent matters more.
With an 87-71 Game 2 win, the Liberty became the first No.
8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in a first-round WNBA playoff series, sweeping the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 2-0 in a rematch of the five-game 2024 WNBA Finals.
The MVP of those Finals, Jonquel Jones, led the way for New York, with a 21-point and 13-rebound double-double.
Breanna Stewart matched her with 21 points, five boards, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Sabrina Ionescu added four 3-pointers, 18 points, seven assists and two steals.
The Liberty’s Big 3, which compiled an exactly even net rating during their 619 regular-season minutes together, rediscovered their rhythm, combining for 70 of New York’s 87 points.
The series victory also validates New York’s offseason renovation, when last postseason’s first-round exit inspired the firing of title-winning head coach Sandy Brondello and the hiring of longtime NBA assistant Chris DeMarco, along with a refreshing of the supporting cast around Jones, Stewart and Ionescu.
The Liberty now await another opportunity to prove that they are, in fact, peaking at the perfect time.
A five-game series against the winner of the first-round matchup between the No. 4-seed Atlanta Dream and No. 5-seed Washington Mystics will be their next chance to make history.
What’s next for Minnesota?
In this age of American sports culture, attention, intrigue and analysis often fixates on the underachiever, not the overachiever.
So, great job Liberty! But, everyone really wants to indulge in scrutiny of and speculation about the Lynx.
A charmed regular season that started to tilt a bit sideways down the stretch fully toppled over in the first round, as Minnesota was ousted in two uncompetitive games by a combined 32 points.
A five-game Finals loss in 2024 that became a four-game semifinals exit in 2025 is now a two-game first-round elimination in 2026. The supposed start of the next Lynx dynasty has instead trended the wrong direction, with regular-season dominance devolving into postseason disappointment.
That overall trend line makes it a bit disingenuous to argue that the Lynx, without Napheesa Collier for more than half of the season, weren’t even supposed to be here. Nope. That overachievement can’t be an excuse.
So, what must Minnesota do?
During her Coach of the Year acceptance speech, Cheryl Reeve emphasized her appreciation for Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams choosing to re-sign in Minnesota, despite the uncertainty ahead. While the Lynx saw key contributors exit in free agency, and then welcomed Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles and a returned and rejuvenated Natasha Howard into the fold, the team’s core identity, carried on by the Reeve-Collier-McBride-Williams quartet, remained.
It appears that now has to change.
What “change” is will, foremost, be decided by Collier, an unrestricted free agent in the upcoming offseason.
Speculation already has swirled about Phee’s future, stemming from her decision to sign a one-year contract last offseason, in addition to some comments that could be over-interpreted as her hinting at a future outside of Minneapolis. The arrival of Miles and her instant ascendance into superstardom only has intensified assumptions that Collier will seek a new WNBA home.
We’ll see. After scoring 12 points on 6-for-14 shooting in Game 1, when the Lynx were outscored by a team-worst 23 points in her 33 minutes, she finished with 14 points, again shooting 6-for-14 from the field, in Game 2.
If Phee does flee, how will the organization choose to build around Miles? Will they again surround her with a veteran group, aiming to microwave another contender? Or, will they choose to slow the timeline, opting for a roster with younger talents and a longer title-contention window?
Miles’ regular season argues for the former, whereas her playoff performance lends credence to the latter.
During the regular season, Miles averaged nearly 20 points and six assists per game, shooting just under 50 percent from the field and almost 39 percent from 3 as the Lynx outscored opponents by an average of seven points per game in her minutes, a top-10 mark in the league.
In the two games against New York, she combined for only 16 points and two assists, shooting 20 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3. The Lynx were outscored by 30 points in her minutes.
Those struggles, while severe, should do nothing to deter all the optimism about Miles’ longterm outlook. But, they might suggest that that outlook is on a longer timeline.
In particular, that Miles was bothered by the physicality of playoff basketball—the repeated issue for the Lynx during this three-season run—signals that the organization should seriously reflect on the type of players who can mitigate Miles’ weaknesses, while still amplifying all her strengths.
It’s not easy. It’s much easier just to clown Minnesota for another postseason flameout.
But, Reeve has 397 wins, five Coach of the Year awards and four titles for a reason. I bet the Lynx, while wounded, will be back.
