WNBA Honors Cheryl Reeve With Another Award Despite Playoff Collapse and Years of Outspoken Left-Wing Politics

Cheryl Reeve wins WNBA Coach of the Year for the third time, but the historic first-round playoff game of Siahgoush raises questions about this honor.

Pearl: WNBA can't claim to be against politicization when that's all it's ever done | Don't @ Me w/ Dan Dakich

There is no professional sports organization in America that is more political than the WNBA.

The WNBA has another award for Sheryl Reeve. It's one of the people who run the teams, and it makes us look at exactly what they're celebrating.

The Minnesota Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations won the basketball executive of the year for the third time, tying Atlanta Dream's Dan Padover for the most selections in the award's history, the league announced Monday.

The announcement came less than two weeks after the top-seeded Lynx were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the semifinalist New York Liberty.

Rio appeared on 13 ballots, ahead of Padovar's 11 and Golden State's Ohemaa Nyanin's eight. Each of the WNBA's 15 teams had a manager on the voting panel, and voters could not choose themselves.

Sheryl Reeve's WNBA Coach of the Year win shouldn't distract from her dangerous charges.

It's a significant endorsement of Ryu by his peers, and also a tacit endorsement of the way one of the league's most prominent figures on the left represents his franchise.

A chief executive helps define what an organization stands for, and Rio has made his politics a big part of that job. Ube has consistently used her WNBA platform to attack the motivations of those who believe women's sports should be for women.

His colleagues have now chosen to celebrate his leadership. That deserves to be considered beyond a list of successful transactions.

Dallas made Olivia Miles Rio's decision awfully easy

The league's announcement highlighted Rio's selection of Olivia Miles with the No. 2 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Miles became the unanimous Rookie of the Year and set the league rookie scoring record with 790 points.

A great addition, obviously. But let's remember how Miles became available.

The Dallas Wings could (and should) have taken Miles, but instead they took Paige Bookers' girlfriend, Ozzie Fudd, with the number one pick.

The Wings publicly praised Fudd's shooting. But it would be silly to pretend that their selection of Fade was based entirely on his basketball skills.

The Dallas Wings used the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft to select Paige Bookers, and then used the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft to select Bookers' girlfriend and former UConn teammate, Ozzie Fudd. (Photos by Hapa Blonde/GC)

As a rookie, Miles averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds. Fade averaged 13.1 points, 1.8 assists and 1.7 rebounds. Miles put up those numbers while playing fewer minutes per game, shooting better from the floor and finishing second in MVP voting.

Rio should probably send Wings a thank you note.

In April 2024, the Chicago Sky moved from #8 to #7 and acquired the rights to Nikolina Milic. Minnesota received Sika Kone, a 2025 second-round pick and the right to trade 2026 first-round picks to Chicago along with the No. 8 pick.

Chicago used No. 7 on Angel Reyes. At the time of the deal, Minnesota was 19-21 and Chicago was 18-22.

WNBA's Angel Reyes' latest controversy shows how victimhood has become central to her brand

In April 2025, Minnesota sent the No. 11 pick to Chicago, which the Sky used on Haley Van Leith, for the first time in 2026 Chicago. The deal voided the previous trade and allowed Minnesota to retain its 2026 first-round pick as well.

Rio deserves credit for those deals. However, once Dallas passed on Miles, the pick at No. 2 was pretty easy.

Rio also signed Natasha Howard, who started all 44 games and earned an All-Star berth. Minnesota finished 33-11 and earned the No. 1 playoff seed.

Dallas did Rio a huge favor and the Lynx benefited.

Despite all those advantages, what did the Lynx do in the playoffs?

Minnesota became the first No. 1 seed in WNBA history to be eliminated by a No. 8 seed, and New York did it in a sweep.

The Lynx had the unanimous Rookie of the Year (who also finished second in MVP voting). And while Napheesa Collier, one of the league's best players, missed time during the regular season, he played in both playoff games.

Minnesota lost both games by 16 points, including a 91-75 loss at home in Game 1.

Four Rio championships are part of his record. So it is that the latest one came in 2017. In the nine seasons since then, Minnesota has reached the Finals once, losing to New York in 2024.

During this time, Rio received three Coach of the Year awards and all three Executive of the Year awards.

Six zero championship individual awards

If Ryu gets credit for building and coaching the roster, he can also take credit for what that team did in the playoffs.

A manager sets the tone for the franchise

Rio received his fifth Coach of the Year award two weeks ago. With Monday's announcement, he became the first to win Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year twice in the same season.

To me, evaluating an executive means evaluating leadership. If an executive repeatedly uses the team platform to make political statements, these statements are in dispute as to how he represents the organization.

WNBA's battle over men in women's sports shows how the left is answering the question no one asked

Shortly after Sophie Cunningham's comments about supporting women's sports went public, Reeve wore a "Trans Kids Belong" shirt on the sidelines against the Indiana Fever.

After Minnesota's Sept. 24 regular-season finale, Rio described the controversy surrounding men's participation in women's sports as an attack on what he called the "transgender community."

"They don't want transgender people to exist," Reeve said.