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Sylvia Fowles, nearly 36 years old, is still doing things that she's never done — and, as it turns out, nobody has ever done in the WNBA.
Her 29-point, 20-rebound, four-steal, three-assist effort in Tuesday's 76-70 Lynx victory over Seattle was the first 20-20-3-3 game in league history.
It provided an opportunity for Lynx coach/GM Cheryl Reeve to make her case that Fowles, for as great as she is, remains underappreciated.
"The league has grossly undeserved Sylvia's career,'' Reeve said. "I'm sure ESPN [which televised Tuesday's game] wanted to love up on all the stars the Storm has ... you guys are watching greatness. One the best players, ever, certainly at the center spot. There is nobody close in terms of what she does for her team.''
Reeve is, as usual, correct — something I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
If you don't see the podcast player, tap here to listen.
Let's take it a step further.
Fowles' credentials for a future Hall of Fame induction are impeccable. She's won a league MVP award, two WNBA Finals MVP awards, is a three-time defensive player of the year, a seven-time all star and has won FOUR gold medals for Team USA at the Olympics.
Owing both to her greatness and some recent events in Minnesota, there's also this: Fowles is the only sure-fire Hall of Famer playing in this market right now.
As recently as a couple months ago, you could at least say Ryan Suter of the Wild had a decent chance of making it. But his contract was bought out. Nelson Cruz is a no-brainer whenever he decides to hang it up (which might be age 50 at this rate). But he was traded a month ago.
Plenty of recent local athletes have a great chance: Joe Mauer, Adrian Peterson and Fowles' former Lynx teammates (Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen) all come to mind quickly.
And some others could develop into Hall of Famers. Justin Jefferson, Danielle Hunter, Kirill Kaprizov, Karl-Anthony Towns, Byron Buxton and Napheesa Collier have the talent. But they each need another 5-10 years of excellence beyond what they've even shown so far.
For now, it's just Fowles doing her thing every night and adding to a Hall of Fame resume. Maybe it's not just the WNBA that needs to appreciate her more. Maybe Minnesota sports fans do as well.
