Why Paige Bueckers and Olivia Miles will have an enduring WNBA rivalry originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The WNBA’s next great rivalry is between Paige Bueckers and Olivia Miles.
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Bueckers and the Dallas Wings surely must be sick of losing to Miles’ Minnesota Lynx at this point, but these three regular season meetings are setting the table for two teams that could run the Western conference for years to come.
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Miles and the Lynx scored another victory over the Wings on Sunday, as the star rookie’s 21 points and eight assists helped Minnesota to an 85-77 win in Dallas. Twenty percent of the Lynx’s wins this season have come against the Wings; 38 percent of the Wings’ eight losses have come to this Lynx team.
Miles is averaging 20 points and 6.7 assists against Dallas. When Bueckers said “what you gonna do?” to Miles during a confrontation in the first half, she was maybe hoping to unsettle the rookie. But nothing unsettles Miles, as cool a customer as you can find in this year’s draft class.
Bueckers is averaging 25 points per game against the Lynx this season, but the Wings have had no luck against the WNBA’s top team in 2026.
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While the Lynx remain the cream of the crop, the Wings are trying to crash the party. And both teams are showing the value of a truly elite lead guard. Bueckers and Miles both rank in the top 10 in scoring, assists and win shares.
The Las Vegas Aces remain the team to beat as they have won three of the past four WNBA championships. But the Lynx are regenerating around Miles after free agency and an injury to Napheesa Collier turned their roster upside down. The Wings too are finding stability with Bueckers after years of chaos on and off the court.
