Lynx capitalize on early-season success with spot in Commissioner’s Cup final

Lynx guard Kayla McBride, who is having the best season of her 11-year WNBA career, will turn 32 on June 25. She will be celebrating her birthday with a night out on the town in New York City.

The Lynx will represent the Western Conference against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center in Brooklyn that night in the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup championship.

“It was kind of a thing in the locker room,’’ McBride said Friday. “Like, ‘Get the bag on my birthday.’ ”

There is a chance to make some significant money. The players on the winning team can win north of $30,000. The game’s MVP gets another $5,000. Losing team players get $10,000.

This is the fourth season of the Commissioner’s Cup, and the first time the Lynx have played in the title game. The Liberty are the defending champs. Teams qualify by playing five regular-season games that count as pool games; the Lynx won the West at 4-1, and the Liberty were 5-0 in the East.

The Lynx, 9-3 overall entering Friday’s game, were picked by many to finish near the bottom of the 12-team WNBA, and their fast start has created some buzz.

A spot in the Commissioner’s Cup final “just shows where we’re at as a team,” star forward Napheesa Collier said.

As for preseason ratings, “There is nothing we can do to control that,” Collier said. “We just have to keep winning, play our game, and that stuff will come after.”

They Lynx have given Seattle three of the Storm’s four losses and defeated New York. Only a 14-point loss to the defending WNBA champion Aces at Target Center wasn’t close, and the Lynx returned the favor with a 14-point victory in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The other losses were both by a point — at first-place Connecticut in overtime and on a last-second shot at Phoenix.

“It’s exciting, especially for a team like this which has such a rich history in winning championships,” center Alanna Smith said. “But also the way we were predicted [to finish] at the start of the season. I feel Minnesota has always been underestimated. Picked to finish lower than how they finish. So being able to be a part of the Commissioner’s Cup is like an early recognition of like, ‘Hey, we’re here, and we’re good.’ ”

Plus, it’s a nice way to spend your birthday.

“We haven’t really had those conversations in our locker room over the last couple years, where we felt we were in contention for it,” McBride said. “But now we are. And we’re like, ‘Let’s go get it. Let’s go take it.’ We really like where we are as a team and we want to showcase that. We earned it.”

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve agreed. In past years the Commissioner’s Cup wasn’t really in reach. But this year it was.

“It was very obvious from the jump that I didn’t have to do a lot of convincing with this team of who they could be,” Reeve said. “This team goes out knowing they can beat every team they play.”

Incidentally, it’s fortunate the Liberty are playing host to this event. Because Target Center is playing host to the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, the building would not have been available and the Lynx likely would have moved to Xcel Energy Center. In 2017, when Target Center was being renovated, the Lynx played their regular-season games at the X and the playoffs at Williams Arena.