Lynx’s Alanna Smith: X-factor, All-Defensive player, grad student

NEW YORK — Two years before Alanna Smith grabbed the offensive rebound that set up Courtney Williams’ 4-point play in one of the most remarkable sequences in WNBA history, Smith was at home in Australia not even thinking about the league.

The 6-foot-4 forward played the first nine games of the 2022 season with the Indiana Fever. By the end of May, despite signing with Indiana that offseason, the Fever released her. The Fever roster was young and inexperienced, and it went on to win just five games. Smith was only 25, but Indiana had deemed her services unnecessary.

“I was in the mindset that I wasn’t going to play in the W again,” Smith said. “I didn’t really want to.”

But there Smith was Thursday night during the Minnesota Lynx’s eventual Game 1 WNBA Finals victory over the New York Liberty, taking the floor after a career season that saw her make the All-Defensive second team. Ahead of the opening tip, Smith, who says she is “self-reflective to a fault,” took in the scene. She tries to remember her journey before each game. “Two years ago, you were at home, not even thinking about the WNBA,” she said. “It’s a nice little reminder that anything can happen.”

Smith’s path has not been linear. But over the last two seasons, the six-year veteran’s…