SB Nation is introducing every of the 12 members of the US Olympic Ladies’s Basketball staff this week. Right here’s what you want to find out about Napheesa Collier, a budding famous person poised to be an X-factor on Staff USA.
Quick Information
Staff: Minnesota Lynx (17-8)
Common Season Stats: 20 factors (46.8%), 10.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.2 steals, 1.5 blocks
Place: Ahead
Draft Class: 2019, choose #6
All-Star Choices: 4 (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
Earlier Olympic Appearances: Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Faculty: College of Connecticut – gained NCAA championship in 2016
Napheesa Collier is having an MVP-caliber season
It’s arduous to think about that anybody aside from A’ja Wilson will win MVP this season — the Aces’ star ahead is placing up historic numbers and must be a lock to win the award for the third time in her profession.
However, the Lynx’s Napheesa Collier is placing collectively the form of all-around season that actually makes you cease and assume. Outdoors of Wilson, she’s the one WNBA participant averaging at the least a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double; the truth is, the 2 are solely gamers within the prime 5 league-wide for each rebounding and scoring.
Maybe most impressively, Collier can also be liable for anchoring the Lynx’s league-best protection. She’s sometimes tasked with guarding the opposing staff’s finest ahead, whereas additionally regularly switching onto guards. A two-time WNBA All-Defensive Staff member, Collier’s 2.2 steals per recreation are good for second-most within the league.
Collier is launching the Unequalled Basketball League with Breanna Stewart
Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, shut buddies since their shared time on the College of Connecticut, just lately introduced the launch of a brand new basketball league that would very properly change the panorama {of professional} ladies’s basketball.
Recognizing that the league’s stars should spend their offseason abroad, the 2 determined to pair as much as launch Unequalled, a three-on-three basketball league primarily based in Miami that 30 WNBA stars will compete in beginning in January. One of many distinctive elements of the league is the pay — all salaries can be six figures, and taking part gamers will even maintain fairness.
“It’s actually vital to us,” Collier instructed The Related Press. “Compensation is a large a part of Unequalled as a league and a enterprise. All of the gamers on this first 12 months could have fairness within the league. For gamers to have a bit of the pie basically to develop their generational wealth is one thing we’re actually enthusiastic about.”
She’s poised to be a serious contributor for Staff USA
Napheesa Collier was the one member of the Minnesota Lynx named to Staff USA, however she’ll be joined by her coach, Cheryl Reeve, who’s headed the Olympic ladies’s basketball program since 2021.
On the Tokyo Olympics, Collier was the youngest participant on Staff USA, and her restricted minutes mirrored that. This 12 months, Collier is a famous person and has heftier expectations coming into the Paris Olympics.
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Photograph by Gregory Shamus/Getty Pictures
In February, she showcased what her advanced all-around recreation seems to be like on the worldwide degree. She dominated the 2024 FIBA Ladies’s Olympic Qualifying Event, main Staff USA to a 3-0 report and averaging 19 factors, 4.7 rebounds, and three.7 steals per recreation.
“Earlier than, I’d be blissful simply getting [Team USA’s] water, so blissful to only be on the staff,” Collier instructed The Subsequent Hoops. “This time round, clearly I hope to have a much bigger position. I don’t know if I’m a vet on the staff, however I really feel like extra of a vet than I used to be final time. I’ve three extra years expertise within the league and taking part in abroad now. All that mixed simply results in [being] a greater total participant. I believe my basketball IQ is larger and hopefully I can showcase these expertise within the Olympics.”
Collier led the Lynx to a Commissioner’s Cup victory final month
Most individuals anticipated the Liberty to defeat the Lynx within the Commissioner’s Cup when the 2 groups confronted off in New York final month. However, Minnesota pulled out the win, largely because of the dominant play of Napheesa Collier.
The 27-year-old recorded a 21-points, 6-rebounds, 3-assists, 3-steal statline, because the Lynx defeated the Liberty. Reeve used the chance to focus on the shortage of nationwide consideration on the Lynx’s success up to now, whereas praising Collier’s elite play.
“What do we’ve to do earlier than you guys actually begin to consider in us?” Reeve mentioned, per USA Immediately. “And, we don’t actually care what you assume aside from proper now… the place we get to say to you, ‘You gotta discuss us’… We simply beat a brilliant staff. Let’s discuss it.”
