GM Clare Duwelius and associate head coach Katie Smith leave Lynx

The Lynx have lost two key staff members, with General Manager Clare Duwelius and associate head coach Katie Smith leaving the organization.

Duwelius will be GM and executive vice president of the new three-on-three Unrivaled league, which was co-founded by Lynx star Napheesa Collier and will begin play in January in Florida.

Duwelius has been with the Lynx since 2014, and went from basketball operations coordinator to basketball operations manager to assistant general manager before she became GM when head coach Cheryl Reeve was named president of basketball operations.

“We are excited for Clare’s new opportunity with Unrivaled and thank her for 11 great years inside the Lynx organization,” Reeve said in a news release.

Smith was an original member of the Lynx before winning two WNBA titles in Detroit. She was a seven-time WNBA All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist who is in the Naismith Hall of Fame. She has been an assistant since 2020 after she was head coach of the New York Liberty.

“She poured her heart and soul into developing the Lynx team and its players into a championship contender,” Reeve said in the release.

The Lynx advanced to the WNBA Finals last season before losing to the Liberty in Game 5 of the best-of-five series.