Some rookies take months to adjust to the WNBA. Olivia Miles looks like she skipped that phase entirely. Across her first five regular-season games, the Minnesota Lynx star is averaging 15.2 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game, a stat line that has turned heads league-wide and put her name in record books.

WNBA analyst Casandra Negley pointed it out directly. “I think we will be remiss not to note the incredible start to the season that she’s had,” Negley said, running through Miles’ numbers before landing on the observation that makes it all the more remarkable.

“There are two players averaging those numbers,” she said. “The other one is Caitlin Clark.” 

For a rookie to be producing at a rate that mirrors one of the most decorated players in the league right now is not a footnote. And just like Clark did in her rookie year back in 2024, the records have been piling up alongside Miles’ numbers.

The latest in the list, she achieved by scoring in double figures in each of her first five games to open the season. That made her the Minnesota Lynx rookie with the longest such streak since Seimone Augustus accomplished it in 2006.

WNBA analyst Caroline Fenton captured perhaps the most fitting way to contextualize what Olivia Miles has been doing. “We’ve talked about players who came into the league and just got it. Paige came into the league and just got it. Caitlin came into the league and it didn’t feel like there was this college-to-WNBA learning curve. Olivia Miles gets it… She just feels like she’s carving out her own role on this Lynx team,” Fenton said. 

Speaking of roles, Olivia Miles has wasted no time making herself indispensable to the Minnesota Lynx. She has consistently led or ranked second on the team in minutes played, a level of court time that coach Cheryl Reeve did not hesitate to grant her from the very beginning.

Rather than easing her in gradually, as many coaches would with a rookie, Reeve trusted Miles with a starting role from the season opener and handed her the keys to run the offense. 

And Miles responded by dropping a team-high 21 points alongside eight assists and three rebounds in that first game, more than justifying that decision. And she’s justified that decision in every game since then.

Olivia Miles Gets Candid About Unique Connection With Cheryl Reeve

Olivia Miles is only a few weeks into her professional career with the Minnesota Lynx, and already the bond forming between her and head coach Cheryl Reeve is something worth paying attention to.

When Miles spoke about their relationship in her postgame interview following their most recent game against the Toronto Tempo, she painted a picture of a connection that has developed with remarkable speed and genuine depth.

Her exact words were “It’s only been a few weeks of us meeting and us building a relationship. And I feel like she’d run through a wall for me, and I’d do the same for her,” Miles said. “You know, when you have that relationship with a coach, it’s so special, it’s something you can’t really explain. We’ve had numerous conversations, and just getting to know her is surreal.” 

The trust flows both ways. In that same postgame session, Reeve echoed Miles’ sentiments in her own characteristically direct way, making clear that her approach with the rookie is rooted in freedom rather than constraint. “I want her to be herself, her confident, authentic self, whatever that is. I want her to be herself for sure,” Reeve said.

Above all, for a rookie navigating the pressures and adjustments of her first professional season, landing with a coach like Cheryl Reeve, one who backs her with full starting minutes and demands nothing less than her authentic self, may turn out to be one of the most important factors in just how far Olivia Miles goes.