Alexa Philippou, ESPNJan 26, 2024, 03:13 PM ET
CloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA
Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
Unrestricted free agent Alanna Smith will be signing with the Minnesota Lynx on a two-year deal, her agent Sammy Wloszczowski of SIG Sports told ESPN.
The 6-foot-4 forward is coming off a career season with the Chicago Sky where she averaged 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game with a league-best 63% clip on 2-pointers.
As a starter for the Sky in 2023 — which fell in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces — Smith averaged a career-high 26.5 minutes per game and was a candidate for Most Improved Player.
The Australian, who played collegiately at Stanford before being drafted No. 8 overall in 2019, spent the first three seasons of her WNBA career in a reserve role for the Phoenix Mercury before playing nine games for the Indiana Fever in 2022. Smith was also a member of the Australian women’s basketball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She joins a Lynx roster featuring fellow forwards Napheesa Collier, Jessica Shepard, Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhasz (all on unprotected contracts).