Lynx add free agent guard Tiffany Mitchell
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Lynx today announced the team has re-signed forwards Bridget Carleton, Damiris Dantas, Nikolina Milić and guard Lindsay Allen. Additionally, the Lynx announced the signing of guard Tiffany Mitchell. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not released.
Carleton, 25, averaged 4.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 16.8 minutes per game for the Lynx during the 2022 season. She concluded her fourth WNBA season as one of three Lynx players to appear in all 36 games (Rachel Banham, Jessica Shepard) and the only player for Minnesota to appear in every game during the last two seasons combined. The Chatham, Ontario native shot 40.0% from the floor, ranked sixth on Minnesota for three-point field goal percentage at 34.9% and hit 73.1% from the free-throw line. She connected on one or more threes in nine consecutive games, shooting 44.4% (12-for-27) from long distance in that stretch.
Dantas, 6-3, was selected by the Lynx in the first round (12th overall) of the 2012 WNBA Draft and became only the third rookie in the past decade (joining Monica Wright and Maya Moore) to earn an Opening Night starting assignment for the Lynx. In that contest (an 89-77 victory on May 16 at Washington), she became the second player in league history to collect 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists in her WNBA debut (Candace Parker, 2008). Last season, Dantas saw action in 15 games (all starts) for Minnesota, averaging 5.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.4 minutes per game. Dantas posted a season-high 15 points, connecting on 6-of-9 from the field on June 23 against Phoenix.
Milić, 6-3, spent her rookie season with Minnesota on May 6 on a hardship exception contract, then released on June 23 and signed to a seven-day contract on June 26. She was re-signed to a second seven-day contract on July 3 and a third seven-day contract on July 11. Then on July 18, was signed to a rest of season contract but was released on August 10, 2022. The 28-year-old appeared in 31 contests (four starts) where she averaged 6.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 11.7 minutes per game. In her best game of the season, Milić registered 23 points, on 11-of-19 shooting, six rebounds and three assists in 30:24 minutes off the bench against the Indiana Fever on June 12.
Allen, a 5-8 guard, was originally signed by the Lynx on July 21, 2022 to a seven-day contract, was then signed to her second seven-day contract on July 28 and on August 5, signed to her third seven-day contract. The 27-year-old appeared in the final nine games for Minnesota in 2022, where she averaged 6.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. She registered a career-high 26 points, connecting on 6-of-7 (85.7%) from three-point range in the Lynx final game of the season at Connecticut.
Mitchell, 5-9, averaged 6.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 16.2 minutes per game for the Indiana Fever during last season. Appearing in all 34 games (eight starts) for Indiana during 2022, Mitchell had the fourth-best field goal percentage at 45.1% and third-best three-point percentage at 38.7% on the team. Mitchell’s best performance of last season was when she tallied 22 points, connecting on 9-of-13 from the field (69.2%), grabbing four rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes of action on July 19 at Los Angeles.
