Dear Lynx Fan,

Today, our organization made a decision that was by far our most difficult in franchise history. The decision was made to trade Katie Smith. The decision was not so "what do we get for her," but rather "should we trade Katie at all?" Rest assured that it was not a decision that was made in one day...it was a painstakingly difficult decision made together by our management and coaching staff. As a result of that decision, Katie is headed to Detroit, along with our 2006 second round draft pick, for Detroit's 2006 first round pick, guard Chandi Jones (#8 pick in the 2004 draft) and forward Stacey Thomas.

Katie has been the foundation of our team since day one. She is a special player - to her teammates, to her coaching staff, to the front office, and most importantly to you, the fans. We have had many memorable moments with her and she is the consummate professional. As most of you know, we have not been able to get past the first round of the playoffs. Katie has carried us on her back there many times, but we have not been able to secure the supporting players around her to get us over that hump. We are now at the point where Katie has become our best chance at a championship, as we always felt that she would, but it's not in the traditional sense...it's by letting her go. We wish her all the best as long as she's not facing us in the WNBA Finals.

By letting her go, we are securing a good shooting guard in Chandi Jones, who was the eighth overall pick in last year's draft. She was a player who we were extremely high on last year, and someone that we believe has tremendous potential. During her junior year at the University of Houston, Jones led the entire country in scoring. In addition, we acquired a defensive role player in Stacey Thomas. Plus, with a first-round draft pick, we get another quality starter in next year's draft. This pick coupled with our own first round draft pick, makes us confident that we will get two good players in a very strong draft. The last time we had two first-round draft picks in a deep draft, we were able to fortify our front court for a very long time by selecting Nicole Ohlde and Vanessa Hayden. It is our intention to do the same thing with our backcourt in this year's draft.

We have high expectations for our team, and obviously at 11-12 we are currently not meeting them. Our players understand the decision we've made. We still feel like we have a great chance at making the playoffs, and they understand that making changes and making your team better is all about timing. We believe that the players we have added and will add through the draft will make us a better team.

I speak on behalf of our entire organization by saying "thank you" for your continued support of the Minnesota Lynx.

Sincerely,

Roger Griffith
Chief Operating Officer
Minnesota Lynx