One of my favorite tools for uncovering underrated role players is examining their statistics per 36 minutes. This eliminates the role of minutes played in accumulating stats and helps us find players who are thriving in a more limited role. This is especially useful for fantasy basketball. If you see a player who has great per-minute production who suddenly finds more playing time due to injury or other circumstances, that can be a great buy-low opportunity. With the season winding down, now is our last chance to look at some players who excelled despite not playing heavy minutes. This offseason figures to have as much turnover as the league has ever seen, but when the dust settles, I will be paying close attention to these players and their new situations.

Aneesa Morrow is second in the WNBA in Rebounds per 36 minutes.

To no one’s surprise, Morrow is behind only Angel Reese, at 14.3 rebounds per 36. Back at the start of the season, I wondered if Morrow would be a poor-man’s Reese, and that has borne out through her rookie season. Morrow averaged 14.7 points, 1.5 steals, and 0.9 blocks per 36, comparable to Reese’s numbers of 16.7, 1.7, and 0.8. Reese far outpaced Morrow in assists and turnovers, though those are fairly similar to what Reese did as a rookie. Hopefully, next season, we can see what Morrow can do with more minutes. She averaged just 18.3 minutes per game this season while playing behind Tina Charles and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. If nothing else, I think Morrow has established herself as a valuable piece of Connecticut’s rebuild who has to be protected in the upcoming expansion draft. Connecticut is likely looking at a lengthy rebuild, and I would hope they give her a chance to start in 2026 rather than signing a veteran or two to play ahead of her.

Leila Lacan leads the WNBA in steals per 36 minutes, among players with at least 60 minutes played this season.

I think Connecticut has largely been forgotten this season, and I certainly didn’t expect they would come up twice in this article. They didn’t have the drama of the Sky, the star power of the Wings or the surprisingly competitive start of the Mystics. Instead, the Sun just quietly took their lumps in the first year of a rebuild despite owing a pick swap to the Chicago Sky. I’m not certain Connecticut has anyone who will be a starter on the next good Sun team, but they look to have a few good young rotation pieces, including Leila Lacan.Lacan has very good hands on defense, both at the point of attack and especially on double-teams. If you try to spin while Lacan is in the vicinity, she will take the ball away. It also helps that she is long and often guards smaller point guards.Offensively, Lacan is more limited. To be a starter in this league, she will almost certainly have to improve her catch-and-shoot three-point shooting. She averaged just 3.6 three-point attempts per 36 minutes, making 22.4 percent. She never looked comfortable, even when she was wide open, taking a long time to load up her shot.Lacan will often dribble out of open threes to attack the rim, but she rarely gets all the way there. She has the handle to navigate tight spaces, but is not quick enough to get all the way to the basket unless she already has an advantage. Fortunately, she doesn’t need to get all the way to the rim. Lacan is very comfortable pulling up at the elbows, and her jump shot looks smooth off the dribble. She is also a willing passer with good vision, especially once she gets in the paint.

In addition to the three-point shot, Lacan needs to improve her dribbling with her left hand. She can go that way, and some of her best highlights have come when opponents tried to force her left and couldn’t stop her from getting to the rim. However, she much prefers to go to her right and it makes her easier to guard.

At the very least, Lacan should be a backup point guard in this league for a long time. If she can improve as a shooter and ballhandler, she could be a starting-caliber guard. Lacan is another player who could benefit from expansion. As I pointed out in that article, there aren’t that many players who can start at point guard in this league. As more teams need a starting point guard, there is a decent chance one of them turns to Lacan.

Eight of the top 14 players in the WNBA in +/- per 36 minutes play for the Minnesota Lynx.

Even if you limit the sample to players with at least 65 minutes played, Minnesota has six of the top eight. Karlie Samuelson is out of the season but the next four, Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton and Courtney Williams, have played 515 minutes together. It is Minnesota’s third-most-used four-player lineup, with a net rating of 16.4. I think one of Minnesota’s strengths is their ability to fill the fifth spot in that lineup with four different players who would all be starting for most teams and who all bring a slightly different skill set. Alanna Smith will almost certainly start, and that lineup has a 15.5 net rating in 438 minutes. Smith spaces the floor while allowing Minnesota to play three players over 6-foot tall. Jessica Shepard doesn’t shoot threes like Alanna Smith but she is a monster in the paint. Her 12.5 rebounds per 36 minutes rank fourth in the WNBA among players with at least 25 minutes played. Shepard is also one of the better ball-movers on the team, with 4.6 assists per 36 minutes. If Minnesota wants more ballhandling and playmaking, they can play Naisha Hiedeman. She is averaging 5.4 assists per 36 minutes while shooting 49 percent from the field and 37.1 percent on threes. Her 2.41 assist-to-turnover ratio is third on the team, behind Carleton and Williams. If Minnesota instead needs a defensive stopper, they can turn to reigning Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington. Carrington is averaging 1.8 steals per 36 minutes this season, and much like Hiedeman, her athleticism is an asset in transition. I suspect all four players will get a chance to close games during Minnesota’s playoff run, and that versatility could be the difference if they go on to win the WNBA title.

Illiana Rupert is second in the WNBA with 3.4 3PM per 36 minutes.

I could just as easily have taken this opportunity to highlight Chloe Bibby, who is first in 3PM per 36 and second in 3PA per 36. I feel like Rupert has actually flown more under the radar than Bibby, despite playing 290 more minutes. Of course, nobody who plays on Caitlin Clark’s team will stay under the radar for long, while Rupert missed much of the season to play for France in Eurobasket. Golden State is 13-6 when Rupert plays and 10-13 when she doesn’t. Rupert is a 40.3 percent three-point shooter in her three-year WNBA career, and even if she regresses a bit next season, her floor spacing at 6’4” is invaluable.

Cameron Brink leads the league with 3.8 blocks per 36 minutes.

Between her injury and the fact that the Sparks have been dreadful defensively all season, it is easy to forget she was named the 2024 Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Stanford. She probably needs to get stronger to defend the best post players, but I love her rim protection as a help defender. Brink is fifth in rebounds per 36, and while the Sparks still struggled defensively with her on the court, I have no doubt she will contribute to a winning defense soon, perhaps even next season.

Dominique Malonga is third in FGM per 36 minutes at 8.8 per game.

Malonga is just ahead of teammate Nneka Ogwumike despite having slightly fewer attempts per game. Malonga is averaging 19.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.6 blocks per 36 minutes. She is also averaging 5.3 personal fouls per 36, which may be one reason she played so few minutes.

Even so, I can’t help but wonder if Seattle would have comfortably made the playoffs if they had played Malonga more. Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor are both free agents, and even if one of them returns, I have to imagine Malonga will start next season. If she can avoid fouling, she could be a difference-maker.