Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Olivia Miles is challenging the league's recent first-overall favorites — Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark — with an historic start to her WNBA career.
- Through 10 games she has already broken a single-game rookie record and came up one point away from another all-time mark.
- Her team's playoff-ready performance could make this year's award race far more competitive than recent voting.
The past four WNBA Rookie of the Year award winners all went first overall during their respective drafts. That streak could end this season. Second overall pick, Olivia Miles, has gotten off to one of the hottest starts we've seen from a rookie in recent years. She's set herself up to be the early favorite to win this year's ROY honors.
Only 10 games into the season, she's already setting new records. In Minnesota's win over the Golden State Valkyries, Miles drained 8 3-pointers. This breaks the record for the most made by a rookie in a single game. Caitlin Clark and Crystal Robinson previously held the record at 7. Clark achieved that number during the 12th game of her rookie campaign.
Miles also fell just short of breaking one of Paige Bueckers' records. In 2025, through Bueckers' first 10 games, she scored or assisted on 318 of the Dallas Wings' points. This is the most by any player through 10 games in WNBA history — not exclusive to just rookies. Last night, in Miles' 10th game, she assisted or scored on 44 of the Lynx's points, bringing her season total to 317 — just one point shy of setting a new record.
So besides keeping up record-wise, how else does Olivia Miles' hot start compare to the league's two most recent Rookies of the Year?
Bueckers and Clark's rookie campaigns vs. Miles'
There are a couple of things Bueckers and Clark have in common. They were both the overwhelming favorites to go first overall during their respective drafts. Then, they both finished their rookie campaigns as the clear favorites to win the ROY honors after exceeding everyone's expectations.
While she may not have gone first overall, I don't think Olivia Miles is losing any sleep over it. She's already proven she belongs in the league and is putting up numbers similar to those of two of the league's best. Here are her statistics, 10 games into the season, compared with those of Clark and Bueckers through their rookie seasons:
Caitlin Clark | Paige Bueckers | Olivia Miles |
|---|---|---|
19.2 PPG | 19.2 PPG | 17.0 PPG |
5.7 RPG | 3.9 RPG | 4.9 RPG |
8.4 APG | 5.4 APG | 6.4 APG |
1.3 SPG | 1.6 SPG | 1.5 SPG |
41.7 FG% | 47.7 FG% | 50.4 FG% |
Clark set a laundry list of new records during her debut season. Some of note include the most total points recorded by a rookie in WNBA history, the first rookie to record a triple-double and the WNBA single-season assist record.
She scored 769 points in her debut season, and Bueckers recorded 692. Miles is currently on track to break Bueckers' number, but will need a few above-average performances to break Clark's all-time rookie WNBA record — it can absolutely be done, especially as there are now four more games in a season than there were in 2024.
Assists are a bit of a different story. With Clark holding the all-time WNBA record for most assists in a single season — not exclusive to rookies — Miles would have to work incredibly hard to break that. Although sometimes production fluctuates during a rookie's first year. As of right now, Miles is keeping up with Bueckers and Clark through her first 10 games, in comparison to how they started their debut campaigns.
Olivia Miles is right on schedule through 10 games
Caitlin Clark | Paige Bueckers | Olivia Miles | |
|---|---|---|---|
Total Points | 169 | 180 | 170 |
Total Rebounds | 54 | 42 | 48 |
Total Assists | 65 | 58 | 64 |
Total steals | 12 | 21 | 15 |
In the grand scheme of things, she's right on track — if you're only looking at the numbers. Respectfully, despite their efforts, Clark and Buecker's rookie teams did not have incredible end-of-season records. The 2025 Dallas Wings finished in last place in the WNBA standings, at 10-34. And I suppose the 2024 Fever deserve their credit, they ended the season with a 20-20 record; they were ultimately booted in the first round of the playoffs. If you've been watching the league for long enough, you'll remember when Indiana could barely get over 10 wins in a season for several years before Clark's arrival.
Nonetheless, Miles and Minnesota are on track to be real title contenders. While that may not have mattered the previous two years, it might this year. Here's why. Bueckers and Clark had fully set themselves apart from the rest of the rookie class. It didn't necessarily matter what their team's record was. This season, while Miles is an obvious early frontrunner, we've seen promising performances from players like Azzi Fudd, Flau'Jae Johnson and Kiki Rice, along with some international rookies. It's still early in the season, and as they find more confidence, they could catch up to Miles.
So far this season, Miles has been an anchor for her team. She's not just putting up Rookie of the Year type numbers; she's doing everything that doesn't show up on the stat sheet, as well. She's showing off her on-court vision, controlling the pace of play for her team and using her energy to be disruptive on defense. It's not that Clark and Bueckers didn't have those traits entering the league; many would argue they did. I think it simply comes down to the Lynx winning. We don't know how much team records weigh in on the minds of voters during ROY conversations. But if the competition gets tight down the line, Miles continuously willing her team to victory and playing a massive role in them climbing to the top of the standings, could be what sets her apart from her rookie peers.
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