2013 Minnesota Lynx season

The 2013 WNBA season was the 15th season for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Lynx won their second WNBA Championship in three years, and led the league in wins for the third straight season.

The Lynx entered the season as the two-time defending WNBA Western Conference champions. The Lynx won the 2011 WNBA Finals, but lost the 2012 WNBA Finals to the Indiana Fever.

The 2012 season saw the retirement of veteran center Taj McWilliams-Franklin. The Lynx replaced her in the offseason, trading guard Candice Wiggins for former University of Minnesota standout Janel McCarville, who had played with Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen in college.

Despite returning three olympians and an all-star in their starting lineup, the Lynx were considered something of an afterthought going into the season, with much of the press going to the Phoenix Mercury, which drafted Brittney Griner.

Despite the lowered expectations, the Lynx had another outstanding season, finishing with the best record in the WNBA for the third straight year, and placing four players in the WNBA All-Star Game. After dispatching the Seattle Storm in the opening round of the playoffs, the Lynx swept the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference Finals, to earn their third straight trip to the WNBA Finals. They then defeated the Atlanta Dream to win their second WNBA title in three years.

WNBA draft
The following are the Lynx' selections in the 2013 WNBA draft.

Trades
On March 1, 2013, the Lynx announced that they had traded Candice Wiggins to the Tulsa Shock in exchange for a third-round pick in the draft and the rights to Janel McCarville from the New York Liberty.

Preseason
| 1 		 | May 18 | Washington | 		 | Monica Wright (16) | Rebekkah Brunson (6) | Monica Wright (4) | Bismarck Civic Center 1513 | 1–0		 | 2 		 | May 21 | Connecticut | 		 | Seimone Augustus (15) | Rebekkah Brunson (10) | Lindsay Whalen (8) | Target Center 2803 | 1–1
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Regular season
| 1 		 | June 1 | Connecticut | 		 | Maya Moore (26) | M. Moore & Peters (7) | M. Moore & Wright (5) | Target Center 9223 | 1–0		 | 2 		 | June 6 | Phoenix | 		 | Maya Moore (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (10) | Lindsay Whalen (10) | Target Center 8511 | 2–0		 | 3 		 | June 8 | @ Washington | 		 | Maya Moore (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (17) | Lindsay Whalen (9) | Verizon Center 7870 | 2–1		 | 4 		 | June 11 | San Antonio | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (23) | Maya Moore (9) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Target Center 7913 | 3–1		 | 5 		 | June 14 | @ Tulsa | 		 | Rebekkah Brunson (19) | Rebekkah Brunson (13) | Augustus & M. Moore (4) | BOK Center 5273 | 4–1		 | 6 		 | June 19 | @ Phoenix | 		 | Maya Moore (26) | Maya Moore (16) | Maya Moore (5) | US Airways Center 8464 | 5–1		 | 7 		 | June 21 | @ Los Angeles | 		 | Monica Wright (14) | Sugar Rodgers (6) | Harris & Wright (3) | Staples Center 6490 | 5–2		 | 8 		 | June 23 | Tulsa | 		 | Augustus & M. Moore (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (11) | Lindsay Whalen (9) | Target Center 8423 | 6–2		 | 9 		 | June 28 | Los Angeles | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (20) | Brunson, M. Moore, & Peters (9) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Target Center 8814 | 7–2
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| 10 		 | July 2 | @ Los Angeles | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (19) | Rebekkah Brunson (12) | Lindsay Whalen (4) | Staples Center 7856 | 7–3		 | 11 		 | July 7 | Phoenix | 		 | Maya Moore (23) | Devereaux Peters (10) | Maya Moore (5) | Target Center 9104 | 8–3		 | 12 		 | July 9 | Atlanta | 		 | Monica Wright (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (12) | Whalen & Wright (5) | Target Center 8623 | 9–3		 | 13 		 | July 11 | @ Indiana | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (23) | Monica Wright (9) | Monica Wright (4) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse 10230 | 10–3		 | 14 		 | July 13 | @ Tulsa | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (25) | Rebekkah Brunson (12) | Lindsay Whalen (11) | BOK Center 6171 | 11–3		 | 15 		 | July 19 | @ San Antonio | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (21) | Maya Moore (8) | Lindsay Whalen (7) | AT&amp;T Center 7105 | 12–3		 | 16 		 | July 21 | @ Phoenix | 		 | Rebekkah Brunson (18) | Rebekkah Brunson (13) | Augustus & McCarville (4) | US Airways Center 9806 | 13–3		 | 17 		 | July 24 | Phoenix | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (18) | Rebekkah Brunson (7) | Lindsay Whalen (7) | Target Center 16404 | 14–3
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| 18 		 | August 2 | San Antonio | 		 | Seimone Augustus (18) | Rebekkah Brunson (12) | Lindsay Whalen (8) | Target Center 8733 | 15–3		 | 19 		 | August 4 | Seattle | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (11) | McCarville & Whalen (7) | Target Center 9032 | 16–3		 | 20 		 | August 6 | @ San Antonio | 		 | Maya Moore (26) | Maya Moore (10) | Lindsay Whalen (10) | AT&amp;T Center 5390 | 17–3		 | 21 		 | August 8 | Washington | 		 | Maya Moore (24) | Rebekkah Brunson (7) | Lindsay Whalen (5) | Target Center 8723 | 17–4		 | 22 		 | August 11 | @ Chicago | 		 | Seimone Augustus (26) | Lindsay Whalen (10) | Augustus & Whalen (6) | Allstate Arena 6297 | 17–5		 | 23 		 | August 16 | Tulsa | 		 | Seimone Augustus (29) | Devereaux Peters (8) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Target Center 9422 | 17–6		 | 24 		 | August 18 | NY Liberty | 		 | Maya Moore (28) | Rebekkah Brunson (8) | Lindsay Whalen (7) | Target Center 9004 | 18–6		 | 25 		 | August 20 | @ Atlanta | 		 | Maya Moore (23) | Rebekkah Brunson (14) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Philips Arena 4855 | 18–7		 | 26 		 | August 22 | @ Connecticut | 		 | Rebekkah Brunson (24) | Rebekkah Brunson (11) | Seimone Augustus (6) | Mohegan Sun Arena 7088 | 19–7		 | 27 		 | August 24 | Indiana | 		 | Maya Moore (35) | Lindsay Whalen (9) | Lindsay Whalen (7) | Target Center 9504 | 20–7		 | 28 		 | August 27 | @ NY Liberty | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (18) | Maya Moore (10) | Seimone Augustus (3) | Prudential Center 5997 | 21–7		 | 29 		 | August 31 | Seattle | 		 | Maya Moore (30) | Monica Wright (6) | Monica Wright (7) | Target Center 9123 | 22–7
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 * colspan="9" bgcolor="#bbcaff"|All-Star Break
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| 30 		 | September 4 | Los Angeles | 		 | Seimone Augustus (23) | Rebekkah Brunson (11) | Lindsay Whalen (14) | Target Center 9314 | 23–7		 | 31 		 | September 7 | @ Seattle | 		 | Rebekkah Brunson (19) | McCarville & Peters (10) | McCarville & Whalen (4) | Key Arena 8147 | 24–7		 | 32 		 | September 10 | @ Seattle | 		 | Maya Moore (20) | Rebekkah Brunson (8) | Lindsay Whalen (4) | Key Arena 5486 | 25–7		 | 33 		 | September 12 | @ Los Angeles | 		 | Seimone Augustus (23) | Rebekkah Brunson (11) | Whalen & Wright (4) | Staples Center 11553 | 25–8		 | 34 		 | September 14 | Chicago | 		 | Lindsay Whalen (23) | Maya Moore (11) | M. Moore & Whalen (6) | Target Center 9613 | 26–8
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Playoffs
| 1 		 | September 20 | Seattle | 		 | Seimone Augustus (19) | Rebekkah Brunson (9) | Maya Moore (6) | Target Center 8832 | 1–0		 | 2 		 | September 22 | @ Seattle | 		 | Maya Moore (22) | Rebekkah Brunson (13) | Janel McCarville (5) | Tacoma Dome 3457 | 2–0
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| 1 		 | September 26 | Phoenix | 		 | M. Moore and Whalen (20) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Lindsay Whalen (5) | Target Center 9013 | 1-0		 | 2 		 | September 29 | @ Phoenix | 		 | Maya Moore (27) | Rebekkah Brunson (14) | Lindsay Whalen (7) | US Airways Center 8020 | 2-0
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| 1                 | October 6 | Atlanta | 		 | Maya Moore (23) | Rebekkah Brunson (8) | Lindsay Whalen (5) | Target Center 13804 | 1-0		 | 2 		 | October 8 | Atlanta | 		 | Seimone Augustus (20) | Rebekkah Brunson (10) | Lindsay Whalen (5) | Target Center 12313 | 2-0		 | 3		 | October 10 | @ Atlanta | 		 | Maya Moore (23) | Rebekkah Brunson (12) | Lindsay Whalen (6) | Gwinnett Arena 5040 | 3-0
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Awards and honors
WNBA Champions

WNBA Finals MVP - Maya Moore

All-WNBA First Team - Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen

All-WNBA Second Team - Seimone Augustus

All-WNBA Defensive Second Team - Rebekkah Brunson

WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month (August) - Maya Moore

WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month (September) - Maya Moore

WNBA Player of the Week - Maya Moore (3 times), Rebekkah Brunson

WNBA All-Stars - Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson, Lindsay Whalen

WNBA Record for Fewest Turnovers per Game (12.1)