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2015 Record:
22-12
Won WNBA Finals (3rd title in last 5 years)

Key Offseason Moves:
Re-signed Sylvia Fowles, Renee Montgomery and Janel McCarville
Traded Devereaux Peters to Indiana in exchange for Natasha Howard

Draft Picks:
R2, P10: Bashaara Graves, F, Tennessee
R3, P11: Temi Fagbenle, C, USC
Via Trade: Jia Perkins (12-year veteran)

Outlook:
Only two teams in the history of the WNBA have repeated as champions:

• the Houston Comets, who won four straight titles from the league’s inception in 1997 to 2000
• the Los Angeles Sparks from 2001 to 2002

That’s it. That’s the list. And the Minnesota Lynx want to add their names to it.

It’s been 14 years since a team has won back-to-back WNBA titles and the Lynx enter the 2016 season trying to accomplish that feat on their third attempt.

“I’m not going to shy away from the idea that this group deserves to have on their resume, their legacy, that we were repeat champions,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve recently told the Associated Press. “They deserve to have that. So I’m not going to shy away from that publicly and I’m not going to shy away from that internally. It’s something that we’re going to go after with everything we have.”

All-Access at the 2015 Finals

So far this decade, every odd year has been a Lynx year, as they’ve captured championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Their first attempt at a repeat came to an end with a 3-1 loss to the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Finals, while their second attempt was thwarted in the Western Conference Finals by the eventual champion Phoenix Mercury.

The Lynx are one of four teams in league history to win at least three championships – the Mercury and Shock (now the Dallas Wings) have each won three, while the Comets are the only team to ever win four. Minnesota’s status as a WNBA dynasty is not in question, but if they are able to repeat as champions and win their fourth title in six years, they can elevate their status even further.

That is why Minnesota has pushed all of its chips into the pot to try to seize every last bit of this championship window that currently remains open.

The Lynx feature one of the oldest rosters in the league, with their starting five averaging 9.4 years of experience. Three of those players (Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson) have played 10-plus years in the WNBA and are 32 or older.

On top of that, the team just re-signed veteran center Janel McCarville, who was a member of the Lynx’s championship team in 2013, but did not play in the WNBA last season. And they also traded their top 2016 draft pick for 12-year veteran guard Jia Perkins.

The Lynx enter the 2016 season as a top contender, looking to advance to their fifth WNBA Finals in the last six years and compete for another championship. Their roster is absolutely loaded with talent.

The Lynx feature one of the most talented rosters in the league, but also one of the oldest. Will they hold up for a fourth title run?

How much talent? How about one-third of the entire U.S. Olympic Team that will compete in Rio this August? Augustus, Whalen, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore are four of the 12 players that will wear the red, white and blue in Brazil this summer as the U.S. tries to win its sixth straight gold medal.

“There’s a lot that goes into being an Olympian,” Reeve recently told the Pioneer Press. “It’s not just because these guys are just blessed with talent type of thing. To be a part of USA (Basketball), they look for a lot of things that we look for in terms of the intangibles. They want not just the 12 best players, they want the 12 best to represent the country in a way that’s full of teamwork, chemistry, giving of yourself. It’s not a ‘Me’ situation. So our players are really endearing to the committee in that way. That’s their everyday life, so that was easy for them.”

Of course, that means while most of the WNBA will be getting some much-needed rest, the Lynx will have their top four players competing against the rest of the world. Western Conference rivals Phoenix and Seattle each have two players on Team USA.

“If you’re a Lynx fan and you’re only thinking about the Lynx selfishly and putting us in the best position to win a championship, there might be trepidation being away for that month and competing for gold could be costly to us,” Reeve said. “Anybody that’s been around us knows that’s not something that we would use as an excuse.”

The goal has been set and no excuses will be made in their attempt to accomplish that goal. Can the Lynx win in an even-numbered year and cement their legacy with back-to-back titles and four overall?