Neal: Success of Bueckers, Holmgren, Minnesota franchises emblematic of this ‘State of Basketball’

Members of the State of Basketball gathered Wednesday to welcome back one of their own in Paige Bueckers, the Hopkins and UConn legend who is embarking on her rookie WNBA season. It was one reason why upper-deck seats in Target Center were made available Wednesday night.

Bueckers was cheered when she entered the court for pregame warmups. The cheers turned into screams when she was introduced as part of Dallas’ starting lineup.

Then she started missing shots, and the crowd began rooting for one of her attempts to fall in. After four misses, a three-pointer swished through with 3 minutes, 11 seconds left in the second quarter, and her fans celebrated.

“It was crazy,” Bueckers said. “The one that I made and the ones I missed.”

When she wasn’t scoring, she was dishing. She finished with 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting, 10 assists and two turnovers. Her first double-double as a professional coming in a very familiar place. And her 37 minutes on the court Wednesday, before an announced crowd of 12,772, were matched only by Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier.

On Saturday, Chet Holmgren, the Minnehaha Academy and Gonzaga star, will return to Minnesota as Oklahoma City tries to reach the NBA Finals in its best-of-seven series against the Timberwolves. The Thunder lead the Wolves 1-0, but the Wolves have been in this spot before.

Hoops in this state can’t be much better at the moment. Minnesota prep products are playing in major college conferences across the country. Some are now landing on NBA and WNBA rosters. The Wolves are in the middle of a championship window. The Lynx are looking to revisit their dynastic times.

State of Basketball has a nice ring to it.

“I think yeah, it’s a basketball state,” Bueckers said. “Probably. I wouldn’t say as much as hockey, but it’s up there just with the continued success and the people that we put out recently.”

Yeah, hockey folks. Don’t get your breezers in a bunch as you read this. This is not advocating for a takeover. I know Lakeville probably has more backyard rinks per capita during the winter than any suburb in America. And there are Minnesotans throughout the NHL.

Hoops hysteria has hit this town, however, as the Wolves are in the postseason for the fourth consecutive season. I needled fans for over-celebrating in 2022 when the Wolves won the play-in game as Patrick Beverley jumped on the scorer’s table in glee. But the Wolves had been to the postseason just once over the previous 17 seasons. That’s a lot of draft lotteries.

Wolves fans have been tortured by bad drafting, illegal signings and other missteps for most of their 36 seasons. The Wild have been to the playoffs in 14 of their 24 seasons, but they have suffered first-round exits in their last eight appearances over the last 10 seasons.

So the NBA and NHL playoffs have continued on with Wolves and Wild players running into one another while on vacation in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Meanwhile, a team favored to win the WNBA title — the team with the only championship banners hanging from the rafters of Target Center — played in its home opener.

The four-time champion Lynx, with an axe to grind after a controversial end to last season’s WNBA Finals loss to New York, bring back all of their key players. They added Karlie Samuelson to provide more outside shooting. She led the Lynx with nine points in the first half, making two of her three three-point attempts.

Jessica Shepard rejoined the Lynx after honoring her commitment in Europe, which boosts their frontcourt. Shepard had a game-high 10 rebounds Wednesday.

The Lynx led by as many as 11 points Wednesday, but their lead shrank to 76-73 with 3:41 remaining before they pulled away. The Lynx need to tighten some things up, but they are 3-0.

So let this be the State of Basketball for a while as the Wolves and Lynx seek titles. The puck fans can fire up in September after Bill Guerin fortifies the Wild with free agents he can finally afford.

“The Minnesota Lynx dynasty. The Wolves are back,” Buecker said. “We got Ant Man and, obviously, that whole team. So it’s a good time to be a part of Minnesota.”