Playing at Target Center for the first time since early September of 2019, the Lynx will host Washington on Saturday in their final preseason game.
Make that their only preseason game.
Normally this would be a time for solidifying the starting lineup and setting rotations. For a couple reasons, it won't be like that for the Lynx.
• Two starters — Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride — are still playing in France and Turkey, respectively. They've missed camp and will miss next week's opener.
• Determined to ensure they're not banged up and are 100% ready, it's unlikely either center Sylvia Fowles or wing Aerial Powers — two other starters — will play.
• Conditioning issues have hampered camp from the start.
For all of the above reasons the team's first preseason game, in Atlanta a week ago, become more of a controlled scrimmage. Even then, players showed fatigue quickly.
"It's hard," Reeve said. "You'll basically have one starter from last year [on Saturday]. You'd like to start working on your lineups, your rotations, but that's not going to be possible."