Marvelous Miles

Olivia Miles of the WNBA is one of the league’s top players, and she’s just getting started.

Olivia Miles (number 5) reacts after a play during a June 2026 game against the Washington Mystics.

Olivia Miles is a basketball player to watch. The 23-year-old guard for the Minnesota Lynx was named the WNBA’s 2026 Rookie of the Year in September, after racking up points all through her first season as a pro.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Miles became a basketball star at her high school. She then played for the University of Notre Dame, where she was the number two National College Athletic Association (NCAA) freshman (first-year student) woman basketball player in the country. Miles finished her college playing career having earned more than 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, and 800 assists.

It takes a special college athlete to be recruited to play professionally. Miles was exactly that. In 2026, she was the number two WNBA draft pick in the United States, meaning she was the second selected to play professionally out of all the college players in the country. After joining the Lynx, she became the first WNBA player to earn at least 45 points in the first three games. After 26 games, she had earned more than 400 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists. No other WNBA player has ever done so much, so fast.

Olivia Miles (right) takes a shot as Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks reacts during a June 2026 game.

The Lynx sailed to the WNBA playoffs as the number one team in the league, thanks partly to Miles. Unfortunately, the team was eliminated from the playoffs on September 29, after two games.

But Miles is just getting started. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve admires her toughness, a quality that will help the new WNBA star bounce back next season.

“It’s an attitude more than anything,” Reeve told ESPN. “She doesn’t take anything from anybody. I think it’s that mindset, physical toughness, certainly, the mental toughness.”

Did You Know?

Toumani Camara (number 33) of the Portland Trail Blazers dunks the ball to complete an alley-oop from teammate Sidy Cissoko (number 91).

When a basketball player grabs and dunks the ball midair after a teammate throws it toward the basket, it’s known as an “alley-oop.” But basketball players didn’t invent this term.

In the early 1900s, French acrobats would sometimes say “allez-oop” (which basically means “go up”) while performing. English speakers changed it to “alley-oop.”

Do You Know These Words?

English language dictionaries get bigger every year! In September, publisher Merriam-Webster, Inc., announced it has added 1,400 new words to its online dictionaries. Many of the words have been in use for years, but they were considered slang or unofficial. Adding them to a dictionary is a form of acceptance into the language.

Here are just a few of the new words and their meanings.

cake pop (noun): a lollipop made usually of a compressed ball of cake crumbs and icing that is dipped in a usually chocolate or sugary coating and often decorated

compute (noun): the computational resources (such as memory and processing power) required for a computer or computer program to function

superfood (noun): a food (such as salmon, broccoli, or blueberries) that is rich in nutrients considered good for a person’s health

trash panda (noun): a raccoon

uncanny valley (noun): feelings of unease in response to the lifelike quality of something (such as a doll, a robot, an image or voice generated by artificial intelligence, or a computer-animated character) that is intended to be like a human

whack-a-mole (noun): a situation in which any attempt to deal with a problem is met with another problem, or a repeat of the original problem

When Basketball Used Baskets

Courtesy of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S., © Aspenphoto/Dreamstime.com; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

(left) Players shoot the ball into a peach basket during an 1892 basketball game. (right) Jaylen Bond (number 15) of the Temple Owls goes for a slam dunk during a 2015 game.

Did you know that basketball players once tried to get the ball into peach baskets? You can learn more about basketball and how it was invented at Britannica!

WHAT'S THE WORD?

razzmatazz

Part of speech:

noun

Definition:

: noisy and exciting activity meant to attract attention

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“In the News: Marvelous Miles.” Britannica School, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 21 Oct. 2026. https://news.eb.com/level1/marvelous-miles. Accessed 22 Oct 2026 [Replace this date with today’s date.]