Olivia Miles Just Did Something Only Paige Bueckers Has Done Since 2000

The Minnesota Lynx walked into Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks knowing they were already out of WNBA Commissioner’s Cup contention. But rookie point guard Olivia Miles apparently didn’t get that memo.

In a 99-83 blowout win, Miles put up 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting — an obscene 80 percent from the field — to go with four rebounds and four assists. According to StatMuse, that stat line puts her in a club that, since 2000, has exactly two members: Miles and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers.

That’s the kind of company that shifts conversations. Miles, the No. 2 overall pick out of TCU, entered the league with expectations, but nobody predicted she’d be rewriting record books by mid-June.

Her 18.1 points per game lead the Lynx. She’s also averaging five rebounds and a team-best 5.9 assists. For context: she’s not just the front-runner for Rookie of the Year — she’s lapping the field. Some fans online have already started floating her name for All-WNBA consideration, and the numbers back it up.

All of this is happening while the Lynx wait for Napheesa Collier to return from ankle injuries. When the season opened, the general feeling was that Minnesota might struggle to stay afloat without their star forward. Instead, Miles has turned the Lynx into a legitimate threat. They’re 12-3, and despite missing the Commissioner’s Cup final (Las Vegas claimed the second spot by beating Phoenix), the bigger picture looks bright.

“She’s playing like a veteran,” one league analyst noted on a postgame broadcast. “The game has not been too fast for her at all.”

Wednesday’s performance was a reminder that the WNBA’s rookie class — which includes Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, and others — is already reshaping the guard landscape. Miles belongs in that conversation, and she’s making a strong case that she might be the best of them.

The Lynx now turn their full attention to a championship push when Collier returns. And with Miles running the show, that push looks a lot more real than it did three months ago.