Story by
MN Lynx Cut 1st Round Pick That Could’ve Been Angel Reese
- Story by
- MN Lynx Cut 1st Round Pick That Could’ve Been Angel Reese
Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Lynx are currently the best team in the WNBA. They are 18-4 and Cheryl Reeve has her team rolling. Napheesa Collier won Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, and she has a career-best 23.6 points per game this season.
To say that things are going well for Reeve and her squad would be putting it lightly. There is always a level of curiosity when it comes to how much better they could be. That is, of course, because they wasted their 2024 first round pick (8th overall) on Alissa Pilli. More notably, Reeve traded back one spot to pass on drafting Angel Reese .
Advertisement
Minnesota Lynx waive Alissa Pili
The Minnesota Lynx held the seventh overall pick during the 2024 WNBA Draft. Instead of using it, with Angel Reese still on the board, Cheryl Reeve traded back a spot. They selected Utah forward Alissa Pili. On Saturday she was waived.
Related Headlines
NEWS: Lynx Waive Forward Alissa Pili. https://t.co/gXkdGI9YI5
— Lynx PR (@Lynx_PR) July 13, 2025
As a rookie Pili appeared in just 22 games. She never cracked the starting lineup and she averaged just a paltry 2.4 points per game . This season has not gone better. Pili played in just 14 games and has averaged an even-less 1.9 points per game.
Related: Minnesota Lynx Passed on Angel Reese Because Cheryl Reeve Did Not Want to Coach Her
Advertisement
The Lynx have a difficult rotation to crack as a team that went to the WNBA Finals last season. Pili having a career-high of just eight points though is indicative of how few opportunities she truly saw. It's possible that she'll flourish somewhere else.
What could have been for MN Lynx with Angel Reese?
Angel Reese is arguably the most polarizing player in the WNBA. She is a two-time All-Star and finished runner up last season for Rookie of the Year. It's the winner, Caitlin Clark , that she's largely built a career off of though.
Reese is an exceptional defender at 6'3″. She also racks up rebounds with 13.0 per game as her career-average. Unfortunately for her she failed to shoot 40% (39.1%) as a rookie, and is just shooting 43.4% this season. She struggles around the rim offensively, and that's really the only place she should dominate.
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The Lynx head coach has backed away from personalities that overshadow her previously. She kept Clark off the Team USA roster, and it was her decision to avoid drafting Reese. There's a component to team-building that includes managing personalities.
Advertisement
Related: MN Lynx PoBO Cheryl Reeve was 100% Right About Angel Reese
Maybe Reese would have never worked in Minnesota because Reese wasn't interested in giving her the same platform. Reese has plenty of warts as a player, but she isn't getting cut 36 games into her career either.
Coincidentally the Lynx next game comes against the Chicago Sky and Reese on Monday night. Reese helped to pull the upset on Saturday as Chicago got just their seventh win of the season.
Related Headlines
