Alanna Smith to sign two-year deal with Lynx, agent says

Unrestricted free agent Alanna Smith will be signing with the Minnesota Lynx on a two-year deal, her agent Sammy Wloszczowski of SIG Sports told ESPN.

The 6-foot-4 forward is coming off a career season with the Chicago Sky where she averaged 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game with a league-best 63% clip on 2-pointers.

As a starter for the Sky in 2023 — which fell in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces — Smith averaged a career-high 26.5 minutes per game and was a candidate for Most Improved Player.

The Australian, who played collegiately at Stanford before being drafted No. 8 overall in 2019, spent the first three seasons of her WNBA career in a reserve role for the Phoenix Mercury before playing nine games for the Indiana Fever in 2022. Smith was also a member of the Australian women’s basketball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

She joins a Lynx roster featuring fellow forwards Napheesa Collier, Jessica Shepard, Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhasz (all on unprotected contracts).