Former Lynx standout Sylvia Fowles makes Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

Sylvia Fowles, part of two WNBA champions in Minnesota, will become the eighth Lynx player to be inducted.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 16, 2024 at 2:17AM
Sylvia Fowles (34), shown in a 2018 game, will become the eighth Lynx player inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. (AARON LAVINSKY/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Sylvia Fowles became the latest player from the Lynx to be named to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The 2025 class was announced Friday.

“I am immensely proud that Syl is being recognized,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said in a statement . “Syl is the most dominant center ever to play in the WNBA and was an impossible matchup on both ends of the floor.”

Fowles retired in 2022 after a 15-year WNBA career, the last eight with the Lynx. That was a span in which the Lynx won their third and fourth league titles. Acquired midway through the 2015 season, she was the Finals MVP in both 2015 and 2017 and was the regular-season MVP in 2017 as well.

Fowles appeared in 408 regular-season games, averaging 15.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. She averaged 14.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 41 postseason games. She is the league’s career leader in field goal percentage (59.9%), 12th all-time in points (6,415), second in rebounds (4,006), fourth in blocks (721) and second in double-doubles (193).

Fowles becomes the eighth Lynx player to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, following Seimone Augustus, Teresa Edwards, Andrea Lloyd, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Maya Moore, Katie Smith and Lindsay Whalen.

The rest of the class includes former WNBA players Cappie Pondexter and Alana Beard; former college coaches Mark Campbell and Lucille Kyvallos; and Danielle Donehew, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association executive director. The 2025 class will be enshrined June 14.

“Syl would outwork you on duck-ins to score the ball, beat you to the spot to deny a post touch, and come across the lane from the help side to send a shot into the fifth row,” Reeve said. “But the joy she brought to the team, the franchise and the fan base every day is what we will cherish forever.”

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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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The center, part of two WNBA champions in Minnesota, will become the eighth player from the franchise to be inducted.

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