How the Minnesota Lynx built a WNBA dynasty

The Minnesota Lynx professional basketball franchise has competed in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) since the 1999 season. The Lynx are the second professional women’s basketball team to represent Minnesota, the first being the Minnesota Fillies of the now defunct Women’s Professional Basketball League, active from 1978 to 1981. The Lynx compete in the WNBA’s Western Conference and have won four WNBA titles: 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

The WNBA’s inaugural season began on June 21, 1997, when the league featured eight teams. Two additional expansion teams were added for each of the next two seasons. Minnesota’s expansion team was officially announced on April 22, 1998, with Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor in a founding role. The team’s name and logo were unveiled at the Burnsville Mall on December 5.

In their first-ever game, held at the Target Center in Minneapolis on June 12, 1999, in front of 12,122 fans, the Lynx defeated the Detroit Shock by a final score of 68-51. Minnesota’s eventual All-Star guard Tonya Edwards scored the first points in the franchise’s history with a layup off of an assist by teammate Sonja Tate. The Lynx finished the season with a final record of 15-17 under Head Coach Brian Agler.

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Success eluded the Lynx in their early history, and it was not until the 2003 season that the team finished with a record above .500 and secured their first playoff appearance. Finishing with a final record of 18-16 under new head coach Suzie McConnell Serio and All Star and future Hall of Famer Katie Smith, the Lynx finished fourth in the 2003 Western Conference standings.

On December 8, 2009, the Lynx named Cheryl Reeve their head coach. They began the season by bolstering a roster anchored by 2006 Rookie of the Year Seimone Augustus. Key among these pickups were Rebekkah Brunson, Maya Moore, and Minnesota native Lindsay Whalen.

The 2011 Minnesota Lynx finished with a record of 27-7 (the best in the WNBA) and secured a number-one seed in the WNBA Western Conference Playoffs. With a lineup featuring All Stars Whalen, Moore, Brunson and Seimone Augustus, they advanced through the playoff field and faced the Atlanta Dream in their first-ever WNBA Finals. The Lynx swept the Dream three games to none, thanks in part to the efforts of Finals MVP Augustus, and the team took home the first title for a Minnesota sports franchise since 1991.

Success and titles became standard for the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010s as they established a WNBA dynasty. They reached the postseason every year from 2011 to 2021 and were Western Conference Champions and WNBA Final participants in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

In 2013 the Lynx achieved a WNBA Regular Season best record of 26-8 with a roster that reunited Lindsay Whalen with her Minnesota Golden Gophers teammate Janel McCarville. They clawed their way to a second WNBA title without losing a postseason playoff game.

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In 2015 the Lynx added to their roster by trading for center Sylvia Fowles, who brought added defensive prowess. Fowles helped guide the Lynx to the 2015 Finals, decided in a decisive Game Five victory at the Target Center against the Indiana Fever. Two seasons later, in 2017, the Lynx secured a rematch of the 2016 WNBA Finals contest against the Los Angeles Sparks. In a decisive Game Five on October 4, 2017 the Lynx secured their fourth WNBA title with an 85 to 76 victory.

As the core of the Lynx roster changed over at the end of the decade, new stars stepped in to carry on the franchise’s winning ways. Napheesa Collier became the Lynx’s fourth-ever Rookie of the Year in 2019, with teammate Crystal Dangerfield receiving the same award in 2020. After missing the playoffs in 2022, the Lynx returned to them in 2023. The 2024 season also saw the Lynx return to the WNBA Finals in a down-to-the-wire, best-of-five series Game Five against the New York Liberty in New York City.

In June of 2025, ownership of the Minnesota Lynx and the Minnesota Timberwolves passed from Lynx founding owner Glen Taylor to a group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

For more information on this topic, check out the original entry on MNopedia.

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Hansen, Mitchell. “Throwback Thursday | A Look Back at the First Lynx Logo.” WNBA.com, August 10, 2017.

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Minnesota Lynx. Basketball Reference.

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Trutor, Clayton. “Trailblazers: How a Minnesota Team Helped Pioneer Professional Women’s Basketball.” Minnesota Monthly.com, November 19, 2024.

Voepel, Mechelle. “Inside the WNBA’s Inaugural Game, 25 Seasons Later.” ESPN.com, June 28, 2021.

 Zgoda, Jerry. “WNBA:Time is Right for Minnesota Franchise.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 23, 1998.

Related Resources

Secondary Sources

Hugunin, Marc, and Stew Thornley. Minnesota Hoops: Basketball in the North Star State. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006.

Rippel, Joel. “Meeting Success and Defeat With Dignity: Fifty Years of Girls’ High School Basketball and Swimming.” Minnesota History 69, no. 7 (Fall 2025): 280–287.

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