Minnesota Lynx Offseason Update Vol. 2: They Call Her McBuckets For a Reason

With another week in the offseason in the books, it’s time to check in on how some Minnesota Lynx players are performing overseas before the WNBA year commences.

In the first edition of our Lynx Offseason Update last week, Kayla McBride, Jessica Shepard and Bridget Carleton all had strong showings during the week while playing in Turkey, Italy and Spain.

Over the last week or so, McBride has continued her strong start to the offseason in Turkey, while Carleton starts to find her footing in Spain and Shepard prepares to maintain her double-double type performances in Italy.

Let’s take a look at how the Lynx have performed overseas in the second edition of our Offseason Update.

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Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Kayla McBride

Fenerbahçe — EuroLeague — Istanbul, Turkey

McBride has continued her strong start to the offseason with Fenerbahçe, building off of already being named Turkish Basketball Federation Women’s League Player of the Month in November.

Over the last week, McBride played in one Turkey-KBSL game, tallying 20 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 27 minutes. In one EuroLeague contest, she posted 20 points with four threes, six assists and three rebounds in 40 minutes. Fenerbahçe won both outings.

In the month of December, McBuckets holds averages 17 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals in four Turkey-KBSL games, while averaging 20 points, three assists and two rebounds in two EuroLeague games.

So far this offseason, McBride is averaging 20.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and one steal in nine Turkey-KBSL games, and 19 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in six EuroLeague contests.

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Jessica Shepard

Umana Reyer Venezia — Italy Serie A1/EuroCup — Venice, Italy

Shepard has been a near double-double machine all offseason for Umana Reyer Venezia in both Italy Serie A1 and EuroCup play, reaching double figures in scoring in every game she has played this offseason while surpassing the double-digit rebound mark in four games.

Even though Umana Reyer Venezia has played four games in December, including two games over the past week, Shepard hasn’t played since Dec. 4 when the forward finished with 12 points, two rebounds and one steal in just 17 minutes of action.

So far this offseason, Shepard is averaging 19.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 25.3 minutes over 10 Italy Series A1 contests. She is averaging 15.5 points, eight rebounds and 2.3 assists in 23.3 minutes in four EuroCup games this year.

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Bridget Carleton

Perfumerías Avenida — EuroLeague — Salamanca, Spain

After signing with Perfumerías Avenida in Spain in late November, Carleton has jumped right into things overseas while starting to find her footing for her new club in Spain.

Since joining Perfumerías Avenida, Carleton has appeared in two Spain-LF Endesa games and two EuroLeague contests. Over the last week, she played in one EuroLeague contest while posting 10 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 24 minutes. During that week-long stretch, she also played in two Spain-LF Endesa games, finishing with two points, one rebound and one steal in 21 minutes on Dec. 11 followed by a Spain league season-high 10 points, two rebounds, one block and one steal over 26 minutes on Dec. 17.

So far this offseason, the Canadian has averaged 13.5 points, two rebounds and one assist in 22.5 minutes in two EuroLeague games, while averaging six points, 1.5 rebounds and one steal over 23.5 minutes in two Spain-LF Endesa games.