WNBA: Lynx Sign Three-Time All-Star Kayla McBride to Two-Year Extension

The beloved veteran will help continue to build a new era of Lynx basketball around Napheesa Collier, Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhász.

• By
  
  Jack Borman
  
• on September 8, 2023 10:43 am

The Minnesota Lynx are expected to announce on Friday afternoon they have signed guard Kayla McBride to a multi-year contract extension. McBride’s new extension is for two years, according to Rachel Galligan of Winsidr and Just Women’s Sports.

McBuckets is now one of four players the Lynx have signed through the 2025 season, joining Napheesa Collier, Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhász. Jessica Shepard and Tiffany Mitchell are the only others signed through next season.

Since initially signing with the Lynx in 2021, McBride has been an integral part of the team’s core as the team’s best shooter and the player Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve entrusts to defend opposing teams’ top perimeter threat.

This season, the three-time All-Star joined forces with Collier to lead a reloading Lynx squad coming off a 2022 season in which Minnesota missed the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2010. McBride has spoken at length this season about how much she enjoys taking the floor beside Collier and competing with soon-to-be All-Rookie team members Miller and Juhász.

After the Lynx defeated the Indiana Fever back on July 5 for their fourth win in a row, McBride spoke about the team’s journey.

“We’re just chopping wood and carry water. We’re just going along our journey and figuring it out and we’re okay with that. We’re okay being exactly who we are. I think that that’s been a testament and I’ve really enjoyed that,” she said. “You enjoy going to work every day with your teammates, your sisters, and then obviously winning on top of that. But I just think we’re just enjoying the process and we never get down on ourselves.”

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Since then, the Lynx have continued to play to who they are, as a team that plays incredibly tough, cohesive basketball that produces results greater than the sum of its parts. After an 0-6 start, the Lynx have gone on a 19-13 run that currently has them fifth in the WNBA standings with two very winnable games left on the schedule.

McBride has had a ton to do with that, averaging 13.9 points per game on 42.7/33.9/86.7 shooting splits in a career-high 36 games played. Collier adores her and Reeve has praised her all season long for her two-way play and leadership with the team’s rookies, as McBride has been a steadying force for a team that needs her more than ever.

The former Notre Dame star’s impact was most felt when Collier went down with an ankle sprain in late July, at a pivotal point in the Lynx season….