GM Clare Duwelius and associate head coach Katie Smith leave Lynx

Duwelius will be an executive with the new Unrivaled league, while Smith is headed to Ohio State.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 11, 2024 at 5:35PM
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, left, with Cheryl Reeve, Lynx coach and president of basketball operations, and Lynx General Manager Clare Duwelius after presenting Reeve with the 2024 Basketball Executive of the Year trophy on Sept. 29 at Target Center. (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Lynx have lost two key staff members, with General Manager Clare Duwelius and associate head coach Katie Smith leaving the organization.

Duwelius will be GM and executive vice president of the new three-on-three Unrivaled league, which was co-founded by Lynx star Napheesa Collier and will begin play in January in Florida.

Smith is headed to her alma mater, Ohio State, where she will be an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team.

Duwelius has been with the Lynx since 2014, and went from basketball operations coordinator to basketball operations manager to assistant general manager before she became GM when head coach Cheryl Reeve was named president of basketball operations.

“We are excited for Clare’s new opportunity with Unrivaled and thank her for 11 great years inside the Lynx organization,” Reeve said in a news release.

Smith was an original member of the Lynx before winning two WNBA titles in Detroit. She was a seven-time WNBA All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist who is in the Naismith Hall of Fame. She has been an assistant since 2020 after she was head coach of the New York Liberty.

“She poured her heart and soul into developing the Lynx team and its players into a championship contender,” Reeve said in the release.

The Lynx advanced to the WNBA Finals last season before losing to the Liberty in Game 5 of the best-of-five series.

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Kent Youngblood

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Kent Youngblood has covered sports for the Star Tribune for more than 20 years.

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