Katie Smith is one of the WNBA’s and the Lynx’s all-time greats. She’ll be returning to Minnesota, where she played the best basketball of her career, on Saturday as the head coach of the New York Liberty.

The standout seasons of Smith’s career with the Lynx came in 2000 and 2001. Smith scored 20.2 points per game in 2000, and 23.1 in 2001. In both seasons, she led the WNBA in minutes played, and in 2001, she was the WNBA’s scoring champ and was named to the All-WNBA First Team.

To add a feather in her cap, Smith helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney.

The core of Smith’s game was always her shooting. She led the league in three-point field goals in 2000 and 2001, and shot over 35 percent from three both seasons. Smith’s best three-point shooting year came in 2004 when she shot 43.1 percent from beyond the arc. She was also the first player in the WNBA to connect on 500 career three-pointers.

Smith will always be remembered as a foundational piece of the Lynx franchise, and a key player in helping them reach their first-ever playoffs in 2003. It will be strange to see her on the opposite sideline. However, Lynx fans remember Smith fondly and should give her a warm welcome.