After the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun decisively in a do-or-die game to reach the WNBA Finals, Napheesa Collier brought her 2-year-old daughter, Mila, with her to the podium for the postgame interview.
Just a few seconds into the session, Mila, who got to stay up late for this special occasion, became restless and was taken away by her dad, Collier’s husband, Alex Bazzell. Even as her toddler protested and cried to be held again, Collier stayed calm and composed, just like she does during games.
“What makes Phee special is the consistency and the way she shows up every single day,” said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. “Phee is always the same: her work ethic, her demeanor, her passion for improving. She’s improved every season. She’s just been incredible, and every game it’s more than scoring how she helps our team.”
Collier’s performance in Game 5 of the semifinals on Tuesday was classic Collier. She scored 27 points on 10-for-16 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had four assists, four blocks, and one steal in 37 minutes, leading to an 88-77 victory that took Minnesota to the finals for the first time since their last title in 2017.
The Lynx will face the New York Liberty in Game 1 on Thursday. “She’s a great player. She made plays on both sides of the ball. She led her team all night.
She was aggressive,” said Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner, who often matched up with Collier at the power forward position. “She’s been having a great year all year, so I didn’t see that stopping this game. When she’s in rhythm, it’s tough to stop.”
Finishing fifth in the league for scoring and third in rebounding during the regular season is an impressive achievement. Add her WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and she is truly a generational talent in a time when the league’s star power is at an all-time high.
But what makes Collier stand out is her humility and unassuming nature, traits she had long before becoming a mom and taking most of the 2022 season off.
She’s a versatile talent off the court, an Olympian with Team USA who has teamed up with her former college teammate and current Liberty star Breanna Stewart to start a 3-on-3 league called Unrivaled.
This league is set to begin competition in January and will offer six-figure salaries with equity stakes for players. However, Collier is often one of the more overlooked stars in the WNBA, as she has never advanced this far in the playoffs and does not play for one of the league’s top teams.
“I’ve played with so many great players, and Phee is so different, it’s crazy,” said Lynx point guard Courtney Williams. “She is so coachable, from anybody. It does not matter. She just wants to be great.
She shows up every day in her humility and the way she talks to people and the way she carries herself, it’s actually insane. Like this girl’s a bona fide superstar. They don’t act like that. A lot of superstars do not act like that, and the way she shows up and she cares, it’s different. When your leader and your superstar moves like that, it’s easy to trickle down.”
At times, Reeve and her staff have to encourage Collier to be more aggressive in finding her shot instead of relying too much on outside shooters, whom she greatly supports.
“The fact that we have worked hard and we genuinely just love each other so much, it just makes it all the sweeter and it makes you want to win for them, too,” Collier said. “It’s not just like you want to get the accolade of winning a championship; you want to do it for your teammates as well.
I think that makes the ride that much sweeter. You want to keep playing because you want to stay together, knowing that every year looks different. This team will never be the exact same again, so not only do we want to win a championship, but we don’t want to leave each other yet.”
The 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year has come a long way since her time at UConn, where she entered the league as a relatively small post player without exceptional ball skills.
Now she can consistently score off the dribble, make 3-pointers, and excel in rebounding and defense. Each season has brought improvement, including this one, where she met Reeve’s challenge to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
“She doesn’t need us to tell her. She knows what she needs to get better,” Reeve said. “I still think she’s got more ways to improve, and that’s what MVPs do, great players do. They never feel like they’ve arrived. They just keep getting better and better, and that’s what Phee has done.”
