Photo By: Minnesota Lynx
NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2024– Minnesota Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve has been named the WNBA Coach of the Year and the WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year for the 2024 season, the WNBA announced today.
Reeve is the first coach to win the WNBA Coach of the Year Award four times, breaking a tie with three-time winners Van Chancellor (1997-99) and Mike Thibault (2006, 2008 and 2013). She previously earned the honor in 2011, 2016 and 2020.
This is the second WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award for Reeve, who was also honored in 2019. She is the second executive to win the award multiple times, joining Dan Padover, a back-to-back-winner in 2020 and 2021 while working with the Las Vegas Aces.
Reeve also joins Curt Miller as the only people to win the WNBA Coach of the Year and the WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year awards in the same season. Miller accomplished the feat with the Connecticut Sun in 2017, when he was the inaugural recipient of the Executive of the Year honor.
WNBA Coach of the Year
In winning the 2024 WNBA Coach of the Year Award, Reeve received 62 votes from a national panel of 67 sportswriters and broadcasters. New York Liberty Head Coach Sandy Brondello finished in second place with four votes, and Indiana Fever Head Coach Christie Sides received one vote.
In her 15th season as the Lynx’s head coach, Reeve guided Minnesota to a 30-10 (.750) record, the second-best mark in the league and the most victories in the franchise’s 26-year history. Minnesota earned the No. 2 seed in the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google and has since advanced to the WNBA Semifinals. Minnesota will continue its pursuit of a record fifth WNBA championship when it hosts Connecticut in Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Reeve was named the WNBA Coach of the Month for June after leading Minnesota to a 9-2 record and the championship of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase. On June 5, she earned her 307th career regular-season victory to pass Bill Laimbeer for second place on the WNBA’s all-time wins list. As an assistant coach under Laimbeer with the Detroit Shock, Reeve won WNBA championships in 2006 and 2008. Since then, Reeve has guided the Lynx to four WNBA championships (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017).
In addition to her roles with the Lynx, Reeve served as head coach of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team that participated in the 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game against Team WNBA. The U.S. team went on to win its eighth straight Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
As a team, the Lynx led the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage (38.0) and assists per game (23.0) and ranked second in defensive rating (94.8) and steals per game (8.6). Minnesota was third in three-pointers made (380) and fourth in field goal percentage (44.8).
Under Reeve’s tutelage, forward Napheesa Collier won the 2024 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and was the runner-up for the 2024 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player Award. Collier and Lynx guard Kayla McBride participated in the 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game. McBride was one of four Minnesota players to rank in the top 15 in the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage, along with forwards Bridget Carleton, Cecilia Zandalasini and Alanna Smith.
WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year
The voting panel for the 2024 WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award was composed of the top basketball executive from each of the league’s 12 teams. Each voter submitted a ballot with a first-place vote (worth five points), a second-place vote (three points) and a third-place vote (one point). The executives could not vote for themselves.
Reeve won the award by being named on the most ballots (10). Seattle Storm General Manager Talisa Rhea (eight ballots) and Connecticut General Manager Darius Taylor (seven ballots) finished in second and third place, respectively.
As the Lynx’s President of Basketball Operations, Reeve added and retained key players through free agency and trades before and during the 2024 season. On Feb. 1, the first day of the free-agent signing period, the Lynx signed Smith and guard Courtney Williams and re-signed Carleton. Smith started 39 games and averaged 10.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.46 blocks per game. Williams started all 40 games and averaged 11.1 points and 5.5 assists per game.
In trades, Minnesota acquired guard Natisha Hiedeman from the Sun before the start of the season and forward Myisha Hines-Allen from the Washington Mystics at the trade deadline in August. Hiedeman (4.9 ppg, 2.4 apg) and Hines-Allen (7.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg with Minnesota) both contributed in roles off the bench.
