Olivia Miles has already established herself as one of the WNBA’s best rookies. However, in the Minnesota Lynx’s most recent win against the Connecticut Sun, she added to her already solid resume a record that even Caitlin Clark couldn’t hold onto, and the basketball world quickly took notice.
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Miles entered the game needing just one point to tie Clark’s rookie scoring record of 769 points, and she didn’t need long to achieve it. Early in the second, after converting her first points of the night, Miles put her name in the history books, eventually finishing the game with 21 points and six assists. She was recognized on the league’s official social media account.
“NO ROOKIE HAS SCORED MORE 👏,” their X post read. “With her first point today, Olivia Miles passes Caitlin Clark (769) for the most points scored by a rookie in WNBA history!”
Her achievement even prompted recognition from the NBA, which reposted the WNBA’s post, adding a congratulatory message.
“Congrats to Olivia Miles for setting the all-time record for most points scored by a rookie in WNBA history 👏.”
Clark set the rookie scoring record back in 2024, when she scored 769 total points over the course of the season, averaging 19.2 points per game. Miles has exceeded that mark, averaging 19.7 points per game. Following her achievement, ESPN Insights pointed out via X that Miles was fourth in points per game as a rookie, sitting behind Cynthia Cooper (22.2), Seimone Augustus (21.9), and A’ja Wilson (20.7).
It is important to note that Miles reached a higher total than Cooper and the others because the season was several games shorter. For instance, Augustus, who held the scoring record before Clark, played in 2006, which meant she had only 34 games. Miles achieved her total in 40 games, the same as Clark, and has two more games left this season.
More importantly for the Lynx, Miles’ achievement came during a win for the team. Minnesota defeated the Connecticut Sun with a final score of 101-89, with Miles playing second fiddle to Napheesa Collier, who led the scoring effort for the Lynx. She scored 23 points and added six rebounds.
Olivia Miles’ milestone comes just one game after she was visibly frustrated with the officiating calls in the W and even called out the change in fouls being called from the beginning of the season to now. It was after the Lynx’s loss to the New York Liberty, where Miles was held to 20 points by a very physical Liberty defense. The aggressive defense curbed Miles to 5-for-18 from the field and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc, which is not nearly as efficient as she usually is. Miles’ five outings prior to the Liberty game saw her score 36-0f-73 (49.3%) from the field. Miles had never faced such intense defending before, even saying she felt like she was being hounded.
With the latest win against the Sun, the Lynx are now one win away from clinching the #1 seed as the league heads into the playoffs, a position they’ve firmly held onto for most of the season. It was an especially important win for Minnesota, which had lost three straight games in the lead-up to this matchup.
With Miles now having two more games left to play, there’s a clear way for her to run the score up, and 790 will likely not be the final number she leaves behind. After Clark’s record has been broken, Miles is now on the way to something even bigger.