Behind the scenes with the Lynx during the 2023 WNBA draft

When they all finally sat down late Monday night in the owner's suite at the Courts at Mayo Clinic Square, the hard work had been done.

The Lynx started the evening with the second overall pick in the WNBA draft. They also had No. 12 (the last pick in the first round), two in the second round and one in the third. With center Sylvia Fowles retired, the Lynx were in full post-dynasty rebuild mode.

Here's how it looked inside the draft room.

Cheryl Reeve, the team's president of basketball operations and coach, sits next to General Manager Clare Duwelius at the head of the T-shaped table. Down one side of the table are associate head coach Katie Smith and assistants Rebekkah Brunson and Kristin Haynie. Down the other side are head athletic trainer Chuck Barta, his assistant Brandi BlueArm and data scientist Madison Schiller.

Wolves and Lynx Chief Operating Officer Ryan Tanke is in the fairly crowded suite, as is basketball ops manager Michelle Blexrud and analyst Paul Swanson. To Reeve's left, in a leather easy chair, Napheesa Collier — the All-Star and Olympic gold medalist the Lynx are committed to building around — watches the draft unfold.

With so many picks and so much to do, an unprecedented amount of time was spent traveling to see players during the season. Backgrounds were researched, prospects were interviewed, marathon discussions ensued.

The result: One big whiteboard has draft prospects ranked by position. To the right of that are the team's consensus top 12 players available. (Spoiler alert: three of those would end up Lynx draftees in Diamond Miller at No. 2, Maïa Hirsch at No. 12 and Dorka Juhász at No. 16).

To the right of that are if/then scenarios for the 12^th, 16^th, 24^th and 28^th picks.

All 12 teams are on a draft phone call; at one point after making a selection Reeve accidentally hangs up and scrambles to get re-connected.

The actual draft starts well before the draft that unfolds on the TV broadcast. By the time the first pick is unveiled on TV, the 12 teams are well into the first round.

Incoming Lynx/Wolves owner Marc Lore, at Spring Studios in New York to welcome Lynx draft picks to the franchise, calls Reeve to ask who the team will take at No. 2, only to find out the pick had already been made.

As things are getting underway, a team is offering the Lynx a chance to move into the top end of the first round in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick and a second-rounder next year. The move might allow the Lynx to address the future of the center position. And skilled bigs, Reeve reminds the room, are hard to find.

Further discussion. The 2025 draft could possibly include both Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. On the other hand, all in the room believe the Lynx won't be in position to draft either anyway. Still, Duwelius puts the 2024 and 2025 prospective draft classes on the screen.

Ultimately, no deal.

The draft continues. Dallas taking Lou Lopez-Sénéchall at No. 5 and Los Angeles taking Zia Cooke at No. 10 has the Lynx hoping Hirsch will be available at 12. The draft goes: Aliyah Boston, Miller, Maddy Siegrist, Stephanie Soares, Lopez-Sénéchall, Haley Jones, Grace Berger, Laeticia Amihere, Jordan Horston. Cooke goes at 10, Abby Myers at 11. That means Hirsch — the 19-year-old French center, whom the Lynx have as the seventh best player available, is theirs.

Another trade offer comes in for the first of Minnesota's two second-round picks, No. 16. But, as the round begins, three of the Lynx's top-10 players are still available in Juhász, Michigan's Leigha Brown and Australian Shaneice Swain. One will be there, Smith says.

The deal never happens. Taylor Mikesell goes 13^th, followed by Swain and Brown. The 6-5 Juhász — whom the Lynx had as the ninth best player — is theirs. Another UConn player joins the fold.

Then, at the end of the round, more good news. South Carolina guard Brea Beal — one of the best perimeter defenders in the draft — falls to the Lynx at No. 24.

In between rounds a few calls are made to drafted players, including a trans-Atlantic call with Hirsch, who is with family and her agent and is dressed for the draft at 2 a.m. in France.

The Lynx draft class is completed with Virginia Tech guard Taylor Soule at No. 28, a class many observers rank very high. ESPN says Indiana and the Lynx did the best job.

Perhaps more important: Lore, in steady contact from New York, is excited. He called for a third time in the evening to congratulate those in the room on what he thought was a great draft. He also texts pictures of himself with some of the team's draft picks.

Hirsch will play another season in France. And it's unlikely all four of the other players will make the team.

But the Lynx's training camp roster is much deeper and more athletic, and camp promises to be extremely competitive.

With the third round completed,work is already underway to add a couple undrafted free agent invites to training camp.

But the night of creative tension is mainly over. Reeve congratulates her crew. "All right, way to go Lynx,'' she says as the group applauds.