Olivia Miles was supposed to be a project. Instead she's rewriting the WNBA's rookie record book in real time. In Minnesota's win over Golden State, the No. 2 pick moved past A'ja Wilson and then Paige Bueckers in the same night, climbing to third all-time in points scored by a rookie with 696 for her career.
Miles' stat line from the milestone game: 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 3-of-5 from three.
The efficiency is the part that stands out. Going 8-for-10 from the field while also stuffing the box score with steals and blocks isn't just a scoring binge, it's a point guard controlling a game from every angle. Miles arrived in Minnesota after a long, winding path, five years at Notre Dame before a final season at TCU, and skipped the 2025 draft entirely to keep her eligibility. That gamble is looking like one of the smarter bets in recent WNBA history: she was the Big 12's Player of the Year in her lone TCU season and is now on pace to average 19.9 points and 6.2 assists on better than 50% shooting, a combination no rookie has ever posted in league history.
None of it came against a pushover. Golden State's Natalie Nakase was openly frustrated afterward about her team's sluggish first half, and it showed in the scoreboard math before halftime.
Nakase told reporters postgame she needs to figure out how to push the players who didn't show up, saying she has to have more conversations with them.
Miles wasn't doing it alone. Veteran sharpshooter Kayla McBride had her own milestone moment in the same game, moving into 4th on the WNBA's all-time made threes list, a mark built over 13 seasons that included setting the league's single-game three-point record earlier this year. Between Miles, McBride and Napheesa Collier, the Lynx trio combined for 58 of the team's 77 points, the kind of top-heavy production that has carried Minnesota to 5 straight wins.
Congrats to Kayla McBride for moving into 4th on the WNBA's all-time THREES MADE list 👏
For a Lynx team built around Collier as the engine, adding a rookie point guard who can also pass at an elite level and shoot from range changes what's possible in the postseason. Miles isn't just filling a roster spot, she's giving Minnesota another closer, and the numbers back it up.
With the regular season winding down, the question isn't whether Miles wins Rookie of the Year, it's how high she climbs on that all-time list before the playoffs start. Seimone Augustus' rookie scoring record from 2006 and Wilson's 2018 mark are both still ahead of her, but at her current pace, neither looks safe.