Now healthy, Aerial Powers looks to step up as part of Lynx's big three

Long after Friday's practice had ended, after the players had taken their extra shots, Aerial Powers started a game for her and a few of her teammates.

She put a basketball on an improvised tee at the free-throw line. Then two teammates would stand on either side and play rock, paper, scissors. The winner would grab the ball and try to score. The loser would try to play defense.

There were shouts, a lot of laughter.

"It's a reaction game,'' Powers said. "And it's good for working on your finishes.''

And it's fun.

This might be a facet of what Powers has been trying to do since training camp began. Namely add leadership to the host of skills that prompted the Lynx to sign the 5-9 wing to a free-agent contract before last season. Friday that meant being the ringleader for an extra drill and some unexpected fun.

This is a goal. And there are others.

The first was making sure she came to training camp in top shape, unlike last year, when a slow start in camp led to an early hamstring injury, followed very closely by a torn ligament in her right (shooting) thumb that limited her to 14 games and seven starts.

"It was really hard, coming off the hamstring, then first game back, tearing the UCL in my thumb,'' Powers said. "It was tough. It was a driving force for this offseason. I took it seriously, to be as healthy as I can be.''

That she is healthy, and fit, is a good sign. Because, just when last season was starting to look like a lost year, Powers worked herself back from injury and into shape and had a very good finish to the season.

Her numbers for the season: 13.4 points per game, a 42.7% shooting percentage, 31.4 from three-point range, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists. All numbers lower than her 2020 season in Washington.

But over the final nine games of the season — including a playoff loss to eventual champion Chicago — Powers averaged 18.1 points, shot 49.1% overall and made better than 40% of her three-pointers.

She scored 27 in the regular-season finale, then had a game-high 24 in the loss to Chicago.

"That is the Aerial Powers fans should be ready to see,'' she said about the start of the season, which begins Friday in Seattle. "Like I was doing towards the end last year. I was efficient in my scoring. My defense was good, my rebounding. I was giving to my team in every area. And I'm looking forward to doing it this year.''

Now, with Kayla McBride out for the first couple weeks of the season, and with Napheesa Collier likely to miss most, if not all, of the season with the birth of her first child, the Lynx very much need Powers to join Sylvia Fowles and Angel McCoughtry as one of the team's big three.

That's why Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is looking for more than just scoring and rebounding.

"I think the next step [is] being dependable,'' Reeve said. "When you're in a team's big three, dependability is one of the most coveted things you can have. Just maturing as a player in everything you do.''

To Reeve this means staying upbeat when things aren't going well, when shots aren't falling and things aren't going well. It also means being a leader, both by example and vocally.

On media day Powers said there were two things in particular she worked on to get better during the offseason, but she didn't want to let on what they were. It's safe to assume leadership was among them.

"Being consistent and being efficient is what separates good players and great players,'' Powers said. "And I want to be a great player. [Reeve] talked to me the other day, reiterating how important it was for me to keep a level head throughout the season. That my teammates are going to need me that way. I'm down for it.''

She wants it: The responsibility of being a scorer, the pressure to do it consistently.

"Pressure is a privilege,'' she said. "I'm ready for it.''