Sport: Basketball
Born: January 29, 2003
Town: Phillipsburg
Olivia Rose Miles was born January 29, 2003 in Summit and grew up in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Olivia played youth soccer and basketball, excelling in both. She was smooth with the ball, with great vision and a willingness to use her muscular physique to gain an advantage in both sports. Despite pressure to “pick a sport” she continued to play both through high school for Blair Academy.
As a junior, she led Blair to a state basketball championship and was named a McDonald’s All-American—drawing comparisons to game-changing guards Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. Olivia also played AAU ball for the Philadelphia Belles and was a member of the national U16 squad. When the COVID pandemic cancelled her senior soccer season, she was two goals shy of the school goal-scoring record.
Olivia accepted a scholarship to Notre Dame and skipped the second half of her senior year in 2021 to enroll early in college. She played in six games, averaging over 9 points and 3 assists coming off the bench.
Olivia became a starter in 2021–22 and equaled Marina Mabrey as the only freshmen to record triple-doubles. In the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Olivia became the first freshman to notch a triple-double. The Irish won the ACC title and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to conference-rival NC State. Olivia finished the year as runner-up in assists to Caitlin Clark and averaged 13.7 points per game on the way to first-team All-ACC honors.
Olivia continued her outstanding performance in 2022–23, repeating as a first-team All-ACC guard, but suffered a knee injury in the regular-season finale against Louisville.
After skipping the 2023–24 season to rehab her knee, Olivia returned to the court for Notre Dame and showed a dramatic improvement in her long-range shooting. The Irish ended the year tied with NC State for the ACC title at 16–2 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 before falling to Texas Christian.
That spring, Olivia faced a tricky decision. She had already earned two degrees and was a certain Top 5 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft. However, she also had a year of college eligibility left. She decided to skip the draft and transfer to TCU—the team that had just beaten Notre Dame—to sharpen her game and continue strengthening her surgically repaired ACL injury. Olivia started 38 games for the Horned Frogs and led the team in scoring with 19.6 points per game. TCU won the Big 12 and came one win short of reaching the Final Four in March.
The Minnesota Lynx tabbed Olivia with the second pick in the 2026 WNBA draft behind UConn’s Azzi Fudd. She joined a team coached by Cheryl Reeve and included veterans Courtney Williams, Natasha Howard and Kayla McBride. Olivia proved immediately that she was an elite scorer and passer as a pro, regularly scoring 20 or more a game and creating open shots for her teammates.
In a June game against Golden State, she established a new mark for rookies with eight three-pointers. Later in the month she set another WNBA record when she scored 24 points in the first half of a game against the LA Sparks. In July she was the only rookie picked to start the All-Star Game. Olivia was named WNBA Rookie of the Month in May, June, July and August.
Olivia finished the year as the team’s number-one scorer at 19.8 points per game and smashed Caitlin Clark’s rookie record for points, with 790. She was recognized as one of the most efficient offensive players in the WNBA.
After the season, the Lynx copped two major awards. Olivia was named the WNBA’s unanimous Rookie of the Year and Reeve was named Coach of the Year. Minnesota entered the postseason on a roll with a league-best 33 wins.
Olivia’s first playoff series did not go well. The top-seeded Lynx fell to the #8 New York Liberty in two games and, although she was getting to the rim, she was not finishing and her frustration seemed to be getting the better of her. She played only 17 minutes in the second game, watching Minnesota’s historic loss from the bench.