Lynx Offseason Update Vol. 8: Balance, Boards and Steals Headline a Strong Week

Jan 30, 2023 - 6:00 PM

With WNBA free agency soon to become more interesting as players begin to officially sign with teams beginning Feb. 1, the Minnesota Lynx and the rest of the league are focusing on the 2023 season and rounding out rosters before the new year begins.

As transactions occur, a trio of Lynx players are spending their offseasons overseas in Turkey, Italy and Spain while working on their games before the WNBA season commences.

A week ago, we once again updated you on Kayla McBride, Jessica Shepard and Bridget Carleton in the seventh edition of our Lynx Offseason Update and how they have performed out of the country.

Over the past week, each of the Lynx players took the court once, with McBride putting forth a balanced performance, Shepard notching another double-double and Carleton doing a little bit of everything on both ends of the court.

Let’s take a look at how the Lynx have performed overseas in the eighth edition of our Offseason Update.

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Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

Kayla McBride

Fenerbahçe — EuroLeague — Istanbul, Turkey

McBride has been the top-performing Lynx player overseas this offseason, and she continues to put forth strong performances with Fenerbahçe.

Over the last week, McBride has played in one EuroLeague contest on Jan. 25, a 95-73 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna. In that game, McBride had a balanced showing with 10 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals over 34 minutes. That performance was the second straight game of at least 10 points, five assists and two steals for McBride.

So far this offseason, McBride is averaging 16.1 points, 4.34 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 35.2 minutes during 11 EuroLeague games this offseason. She has also averaged 19.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and one steal over 29.5 minutes in 14 Turkey-KBSL appearances.

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Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Jessica Shepard

Umana Reyer Venezia — Italy Serie A1/EuroCup — Venice, Italy

Another week, another double-double for Shepard. Over the last week, Shepard took the court in one game with Umana Reyer Venezia, playing one EuroCup contest while continuing her recent double-double trend.

In an 83-68 loss to Elitzur Holon on Jan. 26, Shepard tallied 14 points, a season-high 15 rebounds, four assists and a season-high three steals over 31 minutes. The double-double performance was Shepard's third straight in EuroCup play and her 10th of the offseason thus far.

This offseason, Shepard has averaged 16.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and three assists in 26.7 minutes in seven EuroCup games this year. She has averaged 19.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27.1 minutes over 14 Italy-Serie A1 contests.

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Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images

Bridget Carleton

Perfumerías Avenida — EuroLeague — Salamanca, Spain

Carleton was back in action with Perfumerías Avenida over the last week, playing one EuroLeague game with her Spanish club.

In a 75-61 victory over Kangoeroes Mechelen on Jan. 26, Carlton had a nice performance on both ends of the court while finishing with 13 points, a season-high six steals, three rebounds and two assists over 30 minutes of action. Carleton has scored surpassed the double-digit scoring mark in four of six EuroLeague games, having done so eight times this offseason.

So far this offseason, Carleton has averaged 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 29.8 minutes during six EuroCup contests, while averaging 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals and one assist in 25.9 minutes in seven Spain-LF Endesa games.

That will do it in another edition of the Lynx Offseason Update. Enjoy all the free agency news that will come about in the coming days before we catch back up for another offseason update next week.