The Minnesota Lynx are small road favorites over the New York Liberty on Friday night, but they will have to do it without Napheesa Collier. She has returned to practice, a sign that her comeback is getting closer, yet she remains ruled out for this matchup.
That makes the game worth watching for more than the line. Minnesota enters at 15-4 and still holds the No. 1 seed in the WNBA, while New York is 12-8 in regular-season action and has Sabrina Ionescu back in the fold. Satou Sabally is also listed as out for Friday night, leaving the Liberty with another absence to manage as they try to keep pace in a game that could matter later in the race for the WNBA Finals.
For the Lynx, the question is whether they can carry their form on the road while their best player stays on the sideline. Collier’s return to practice suggests the window is opening, and Minnesota’s outlook improves with each step she takes toward a full comeback. But Friday is still too soon, and the line reflects a team that is expected to lean on what has already made it the league’s top seed.
The Liberty have their own offensive swing to navigate, and Olivia Miles is part of it. In her rookie season after being the No. 2 overall pick, she is averaging 1.1 made 3s on 3.4 attempts per game, a decent mark that still leaves room for more. She was 8-for-11 from deep in a win over Golden State earlier this season, but outside of that outburst she has made two or more 3s only three times in her other 18 games and is shooting 32.8 percent from beyond the arc.
That spread tells the story better than any pregame label. Minnesota is favored even away from home because its record has earned that respect, while New York needs its healthy pieces to do the heavy lifting now and its missing ones back soon. Collier’s status is the hinge: not available for Friday, but clearly moving in the right direction. If she returns in the coming weeks, the rematchs and the rest of Minnesota’s path will look different in a hurry.
