Sep 18, 2019
Mechelle VoepelespnW.com
CloseMechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Minnesota Lynx coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve was named the WNBA’s basketball executive of the year on Wednesday.
Reeve has won the league’s coach of the year award twice, but this is her first honor as an executive. The award is voted on by a panel of WNBA executive personnel.
Four key players from Minnesota’s four championship teams didn’t play at all or were limited this season. That included Maya Moore, the 2014 MVP who is taking a sabbatical from basketball this year and working on criminal reform.
Yet the Lynx were still 18-16 and made the playoffs, where they lost to Seattle. The Lynx drafted UConn’s Napheesa Collier with the sixth pick, and she won rookie of the year honors. Reeve also traded for Odyssey Sims, who became the Lynx’s leading scorer.
Reeve took over as Minnesota’s general manager in December 2017; she has been head coach of the Lynx since 2010.