The Minnesota Timberwolves are preparing for the start of training camp, and shortly thereafter, the beginning of the 2026-27 NBA regular season. But in the meantime, the city has another basketball team that is vying for a championship as the Minnesota Lynx tipped off their playoff run this weekend, led by rookie sensation Olivia Miles. And count new Timberwolves star LaMelo Ball as one who is a fan of the budding star, as per Andrew Dukowitz of Zone Coverage.

“I mean I done already told her, she cold, she gets to it,” Ball said during the team’s Media Day. “She can read the floor, she knows how to play, manipulate the defense and everything. I just love what I’ve been seeing from her.”

Olivia Miles was just named the 2026 WNBA Rookie of the Year, no surprise considering she pretty much had that award locked up from the first couple of games of the Lynx’s season. The team was without star forward Napheesa Collier for much of the first half of the season as she recovered from injury.

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But it wasn’t just Collier whom the Lynx were missing. They also lost several key players to free agency including Alanna Smith, DiJonai Carrington, Jessica Shepard and Natisha Hiedeman. And they did not miss a beat as the Lynx held on to the No. 1 seed in the league standings for the entirety of the season. Early on, Miles was even getting MVP chatter.

She appeared in 40 out of 44 games as a rookie, at a just about 31 minutes per game. She led all rookies in scoring at 19.8 points to go along with 4.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 49.2 percent shooting from the field, 38.8 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 87 percent shooting from the free-throw line.