On Thursday night, Rebekkah Brunson became the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder. She hauled in 12 rebounds against the Sparks, giving her 3,318 for her career, two more than Tamika Catchings.
This etches Brunson’s spot in WNBA history books, but if you’ve been paying attention to the WNBA over the last 14 years, you know that Brunson had already made a great impact on the league.
She’s won five WNBA championships, the most in league history, and while she doesn’t get the credit she probably deserves, those around her day in and day out know how important she’s been the Minnesota Lynx, and the league as a whole.
“What a tremendous day for Rebekkah Brunson,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, who was ejected from Thursday night’s win, said. “I’m so proud of her for being the all-time greatest rebounder in the history of the league. 3,318, that’s a lot of work. I’m sorry I missed the celebration, but I was thrilled that she did that. I knew that we needed everything she did today, hitting 12 rebounds was necessary for us to win this game.”
Brunson, 36, is in incredible shape and is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game, 0.5 more than last season. If she keeps up her rebounding numbers, she’ll extend her record to 3,434 rebounds by the end of the season.
Young players see Brunson as a role model, and they absolutely should. Those players should watch and take things from Brunson the same way she did early in her career.
“It seems like forever since I came into this league, and I had the opportunity to come in playing behind some amazing post players,” Brunson said. “I played behind Yolanda Griffith, DeMya Walker and Tangela Smith. There were so many great post players that I came in under and got the opportunity to watch and learn. I got the opportunity to play against some of the bets and watch and learn. So I am just blessed to be able to be here.”
For more history, Brunson had her 82nddouble-double on Thursday night (15 points, 12 rebounds), putting her in sole possession of sixth place in league history.
Brunson is in her ninth season with the Lynx and she’s been instrumental in the team’s four championship wins. She’s first in team history in rebounds (2,120) and double-doubles (57), while ranking second in blocks (168) and fourth in steals (262).
It was that much more special to break the record at home, in front of a sold-out Target Center crowd.
“I love anything, or getting any type of win or doing anything great in this building with these fans, because they support us no matter what, no matter what, they are always behind us,” Brunson said. “To give them a little something extra to cheer for, to hear and understand how excited they are to watch us on this journey.”