Lynx have needs and money with WNBA free agency starting Sunday

WNBA teams can begin official talks with free agents Sunday. Official signings can't be announced until Feb. 1, but by then just about every significant move will have been made.

The Lynx enter free agency with just six players under contract in Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Tiffany Mitchell, Jessica Shepard, Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhás.

The Lynx have a good chunk of money to play with. They enter free agency about $641,942 under the 2024 salary cap of $1.463 million.

But that doesn't necessarily mean fans should expect huge moves.

"We're going into it with a mind-set that we have a core that has some good young players in it,'' said Cheryl Reeve, Lynx president of basketball operations and head coach.

If a higher-profile free agent shows interest, and she fits, Reeve and the Lynx will take a swing. Last year the Lynx went into this period with Plan A and Plan B. The first was to take shots at such high-profile players as Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot, both of whom signed with New York. Plan B was to develop young players, which they did with rookies Miller and Juhás.

Frankly, this year's free-agency class is not a sterling one, especially because most of the unrestricted free agents are expected to re-sign with their teams.

But Reeve would like to shore up depth at point guard and in the post.

Of the team's five unrestricted free agents, it appears the Lynx are most interested in getting guard Lindsay Allen and guard/forward Bridget Carleton back. Natalie Achonwa, who missed last season while on maternity leave, and Aerial Powers will go elsewhere.

And it appears Rachel Banham, who is also an assistant coach on the University of Minnesota women's team, could end up somewhere else. Nikolina Milic is under team control and could return.

"BC [Carleton] is so good for us in the role she plays,'' Reeve said. "You can slot her in at different positions. There is incredible value there.''

At point guard? Too often Mitchell, signed before last season as a shooting guard, had to slide over to the point.

"We'd like Tiffany to settle into her more natural role of shooting guard,'' Reeve said. "We'll certainly look at the point guard spot, either through free agency or the draft.''

Getting depth at the point could be key.

The Lynx have the No. 7 overall pick in the upcoming draft. How they use it will be determined by what happens in free agency, whether they can re-sign their targeted players, whether they can add quality depth.

Allen was one of the more pleasant surprises last season. In her sixth season, she developed into a player the Lynx are confident could be a starter on a very good team. Last season the Lynx rebounded from an 0-6 start to 19-15 the rest of the way, qualifying for the playoffs. Allen was a big part of that, averaging a career-high 4.5 assists and 6.2 points.

All of the team's top scorers from last year are back, led by Collier (21.5), McBride (14.3) and Miller (12.1). Miller is recovering from off-season knee surgery; the team hopes to have her back by the start of the season.

With those six, and assuming Allen and Carleton re-sign, that puts the Lynx roster at eight. It would be expected that the final roster of 11 or 12 players would include the team's first-round pick. That would appear to leave room for only one or two more players.

"We're certainly not going to throw money at people,'' Reeve said. "We have to be disciplined.''