Olivia Miles led the Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles has been a WNBA contender for a while now. And her role in the Lynx’s 94-84 win against the Washington Mystics on Friday, August 21, further cemented her in the competition. 

However, Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve received backlash online due to her comments supporting Miles during the post-game presser.

"Well, you have a 31-and-7 team with six games remaining if my math is right," Cheryl Reeve said about Miles's MVP contention during the post game presser. "If Olivia Miles doesn't play, we're not 31 and 7, and, so, to me, MVP awards should go to teams that are at the top, especially if that player, if she's not out there, we have a hard time being where we are." 

Reeve’s comments during the August 21 presser, posted on the Lynx's official Youtube channel, suggested that without Miles, Minnesota would not be able to make the playoffs.

During Friday’s game, Miles scored 24 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. It was her nineteenth 20-point game of the season and her third consecutive one. 

Per ESPN, the rookie guard started all 36 games this season. She has recorded 19.7 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game, and 5.8 assists per game.

She also holds a percentage of  50.2% while shooting from the field, 38.0% from three-point range, and 87.5% from the free-throw line.

However, many fans believed Reeve was using the team's achievements to elevate Miles alone and rejected her framing.

Fans reveal their opinions regarding Cheryl Reeve’s comments

Fans took to the comments section of an Underdog WNBA X post that reported on Reeve’s interview and Olivia Miles’ MVP contention.

One fan pointed out that it was unacceptable of Reeve to focus solely on Miles and credit her for the Lynx’s performance.

“MVP isn’t a team award, it’s an individual award and no team would have their record without their star player. The Aces probably wouldn’t even be in the playoffs without A’ja. This means nothing. She leads the league in nothing, not even assists as a PG but she’s the MVP?”, the fan wrote.

Another commenter pointed out that the Minnesota Lynx’s performance didn’t suffer even before Miles joined the team, boasting a 34-10 record.

“Well, in 2025 the Lynx finished at the top with 34/10 without Olivia Miles. It's basically the same team. And Napheesa Collier (23 PPG) lost the MVP to A'ja (23.4 PPG).,” they wrote.

Others echoed the sentiment, pointing to their season record.

“Why they only lost 10 last year.not sure of the correlation,” one such fan wrote.

Most fans agreed that while Miles was definitely an exceptional player, Reeve’s comment about her being the most valuable member of the Lynx was simply not true.

“If she doesnt elevate a team it's hard to argue she's the most valuable,” one Lynx fan said.

Based on the comments on Underdog WNBA’s post, it became evident that fans took offense not at Olivia Miles being named as a veritable MVP candidate.

Rather, what drew the fans' ire was that the Lynx coach minimized the impact of the other talented members of the team, using their laurels to prop up one player as its mascot.

Written by

Arundhoti Palit

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit