Olivia Miles ranks 1st among 1,203 all-time WNBA players with impressive rookie start originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Olivia Miles’ rookie season hasn’t just been “good” or “great.”
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It has been historic.
Miles already can be considered a shoo-in to win the Rookie of the Year award, but the Minnesota Lynx‘s budding star has also thrown herself into the WNBA MVP race one-third of the way through the 2026 season.
MORE: Lynx’s Olivia Miles might as well get Rookie of the Year right now
Miles has led the Lynx to a league-best 12-3 record as All-Star forward Napheesa Collier continues her recovery from offseason ankle surgery.
The former TCU and Notre Dame star is averaging 19.0 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game, and she scored a career-high 31 points in a 99-83 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.
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The 31-point, four-assist outburst in Los Angeles saw Miles shatter a mark once held by Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers for points generated by a rookie in their first 15 games played.
Miles has generated 485 total points to date, 13 more than Bueckers and 36 more than Clark at this point in 2025 and 2024, respectively.
That’s a wild stat considering Miles now tops a group of 1,203 possible players.
In addition, Miles’ 3.1 win shares mark is second in the WNBA behind only four-time MVP A’ja Wilson — and, it goes without saying, tops among rookies.
If Miles is proving this important to winning without Collier, everyone but Lynx fans will be dreading what happens when the two-time MVP runner-up makes her return later this summer.
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