4 days ago
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Kendra AndrewsJul 30, 2025, 08:00 AM ET
MINNEAPOLIS -- NAPHEESA COLLIER is heavy successful negotiations, and her hostile doesn't privation to budge. The Minnesota Lynx guardant knows the deadline is looming. She has 1 much bargaining spot to play.
She holds retired a tendril of drawstring cheese.
Collier's 3-year-old daughter, Mila, is connected the different broadside of the standoff -- plopped down successful the mediate of their apartment, unwilling to enactment connected her sneakers. A statement for her outfit came easily. But the shoes necessitate a amended deal.
Mila eyes the offer. After a agelong intermission -- the benignant of toddler soundlessness that means powerfulness is shifting -- she takes the cheese. The shoes spell on, and they record into Collier's achromatic Range Rover.
Inside the car, the opening bars of the "Mulan" soundtrack commencement to play. Mila is singing earlier they've near the garage. Collier hums on -- for a infinitesimal -- earlier the playlist pivots to thing a small much her speed. From the backseat, Mila objects loudly.
"We're moving connected sharing," Collier says, smiling.
And truthful begins Collier's regular toggle betwixt her galore roles: parent to Mila, franchise subordinate for the Lynx, vice president of the WNBA Players Association, and co-founder of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league she's gathering with Breanna Stewart.
This summer, arsenic Collier attempts to pb the Lynx backmost to the WNBA Finals -- this clip arsenic the league MVP favourite -- she's besides helping to pb the astir important declaration negotiations successful the league's history. The existent corporate bargaining agreement, which the players opted retired of successful October, expires astatine the extremity of the season. The conversations are precocious stakes and layered. But arsenic the 2 sides propulsion toward a caller deal, 1 happening is clear: Players person much leverage than ever before.
Part of that comes from the league Collier helped create, 1 that's designed to springiness players much money, much power and much choice. Unrivaled changes the dynamics, giving the league's biggest stars a high-paying alternate connected U.S. ungraded for the archetypal time.
"Even though we're not competing leagues, we tin ever say, 'Look however overmuch Unrivaled is paying us,'" Collier said. "That should let america to marque much wealth successful the W. I consciousness similar it gives america a limb up due to the fact that it gives america players much power. There is much than 1 league we tin play in, and we each privation to play successful the WNBA."
Collier wants some leagues to thrive. But similar astir negotiations, it's complicated. And Collier -- ever calm and dependable -- is close successful the mediate of it.
"I'm inactive navigating it," Collier told ESPN past week implicit luncheon aft she dropped disconnected Mila astatine schoolhouse and completed a three-hour greeting signifier league with the Lynx. "I recognize you are ne'er going to delight everyone. ... It's conscionable figuring retired [how] to compartmentalize everything, honestly.
"You conscionable instrumentality it arsenic it comes. And the happening is, you don't truly person a prime but to fig it out."
FOR EVERYTHING AT which Collier excels, determination is 1 happening those closest to her admit she conscionable can't do: speech trash.
Before each game, the Lynx huddle astir 1 different earlier heading down the passageway to the court. As they interruption their circle, they crook to Collier -- their franchise subordinate -- to occurrence them up. But Collier's words of information are excessively often edited to the preschool assemblage she has astatine home, the benignant of clean-cut verbiage that goes with toddler sing-a-longs, substituting "darn it" for its big counterpart. Or possibly Collier is conscionable excessively nice.
"She beryllium talking s---, but it conscionable ain't good. Hell no. But we're moving connected it," Lynx teammate Courtney Williams told ESPN.
Make nary mistake, though: Even erstwhile they're subtle, Collier has her fiery moments.
Even arsenic immoderate question whether it's a struggle of involvement for 1 of Unrivaled's co-founders to service connected the WNBA Players Association enforcement council, Collier wore an Unrivaled T-shirt during the nationally televised WNBA All-Star roster draft. Every clip she selected a erstwhile Unrivaled Lunar Owls teammate, Collier fto retired the "hootie-hoo" conflict outcry the squad popularized during the league's two-month play successful the winter.
"I thought it was a large accidental to correspond thing I was passionate about," Collier said, a cheeky grin spreading crossed her face.
Making large statements without making a batch of sound is textbook Collier, Minnesota manager Cheryl Reeve said.
"Having an borderline is simply a must. If you don't person an borderline you can't scope your top heights," Reeve told ESPN. "Sometimes it's hard for Phee, but she does it successful her ain graceful way."
That borderline has Collier starring the WNBA successful scoring and shooting percent arsenic the front-runner for MVP. Off the court, it's wherefore her colleagues privation her progressive successful the CBA negotiations. And it helped her physique a nonrecreational league from scratch -- and revolutionize however players are paid.
Players successful the WNBA person been outspoken astir needing accrued salaries -- the existent maximum declaration for a subordinate is astir $250,000 -- and a gross sharing system. Unrivaled already offers both, paying its 36 players an mean wage of $220,000 and giving equity to players who participated successful the inaugural season.
"Whether it's Phee oregon maine oregon idiosyncratic other astatine Unrivaled, we recognize that's the modular now," Stewart said. "That's what we expect erstwhile we travel backmost to the W."
But during All-Star Weekend, implicit 40 players gathered successful Indianapolis to instrumentality portion successful the archetypal face-to-face gathering betwixt the national and league officials since December. Stewart described it arsenic a "wasted opportunity" arsenic nary advancement was made. At the bosom of negotiations, arsenic ESPN reported past week, the players privation a strategy that allows them to gain a greater percent of the league's revenue. The WNBA has a caller media rights woody with ESPN, Amazon and NBA worthy $200 cardinal for 11 seasons, and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that TV viewership is up 23%, attendance is up 26% and merchandise income are up 40%.
"We consciousness we are owed a portion of the pastry that we helped create," Collier said earlier the All-Star Game.
The players made a clear, unified connection successful Indianapolis, wearing warmup shirts that said "Pay Us What You Owe Us" earlier the All-Star Game tipped. Fans had their ain signs that work "Pay The Players," and arsenic Engelbert presented Collier the MVP trophy pursuing her team's All-Star win, chants of "pay them" rained down from the stands.
"That gave maine chills," Collier said. "It truly showed america that the fans are down america and they recognize what we are warring for."
But she besides made it wide that she wants the WNBA to succeed.
"I americium besides employed by the W, truthful if I'm moving against the W, I'm taking distant wealth from myself," Collier said. "Of course, I privation america to get paid arsenic overmuch wealth from the W arsenic we tin due to the fact that I americium playing successful it."
Her Unrivaled spouse made it wide that their league isn't meant to endanger the WNBA, but alternatively to service arsenic a situation to rise its standards.
"We conscionable privation to beryllium connected a leafage wherever we tin enactment unneurotic and marque each things hap fluidly," Stewart said, "because I don't deliberation that lifting up 1 league should teardrop down another."
COLLIER DIDN'T WANT to interaction a hoops aft the Lynx's 2024 WNBA Finals loss. The bid went the distance, with New York winning Game 5 successful overtime. The Lynx were devastated by the result and aggravated with the officiating.
"I was conscionable implicit it," Collier said.
But Unrivaled would extremity disconnected successful conscionable 2 months, and with truthful overmuch riding connected the occurrence of the startup league, Collier knew she had to beryllium astatine her best. So she took disconnected lone 1 week from training, returning 3 weeks earlier than usual.
She wasn't acceptable to sprout yet, truthful she deed the value country for respective hours each time for a period and a half. Collier focused connected lifting heavy, trying to bulk up much than she does during the WNBA season.
Once she arrived successful Miami -- wherever Unrivaled is played -- successful December, she picked up a shot and started moving connected her skills. Collier wanted to enactment connected her ballhandling and 3-point shooting, and Reeve acceptable a extremity for Collier to go a 50-40-90 subordinate -- the uncommon accomplishment of shooting 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point scope and 90% astatine the foul line.
Collier dominated the 3-on-3 league. She won the midseason one-on-one tourney and was selected the inaugural league MVP portion starring the Lunar Owls to a league-best 12-2 regular-season mark. They were the No. 1 effect heading into the playoffs earlier they were upset by the Vinyl successful the archetypal round.
For each of her occurrence successful Miami, Collier said she wasn't trying to marque a connection astir the erstwhile season.
"I wasn't focused connected the WNBA," she said. "I was focused connected Unrivaled and I was focused connected myself."
Collier was pursuing the guiding rule that has allowed her to undertake truthful much: "It's trying to absorption connected what's close successful beforehand of me. I consciousness similar that's the lone mode to get done stuff. There is ever truthful overmuch going connected you can't absorption connected everything astatine once."
But arsenic Reeve watched her prima subordinate from afar, she noticed other fire.
"You can't flight the thought that determination was substance that came from not being capable to implicit the ngo of a title and however it happened," Reeve said. "Maybe that was the opening of her saying, 'No, I privation to triumph this.'"
As was the lawsuit successful Unrivaled, Collier is astatine the halfway of everything the Lynx do. And the ache of falling abbreviated past autumn -- successful the MVP race, wherever she finished 2nd to Las Vegas Aces prima A'ja Wilson, and successful the Finals, wherever the Lynx were outscored 7-2 successful overtime successful the deciding crippled -- inactive hung heavy. Almost each enactment Collier had implicit the 2024 WNBA play included idiosyncratic congratulating her connected a terrific play -- though she viewed herself arsenic having fallen short.
"That was the power for her ... she came into this play with a spot connected her shoulder, appropriately backing up the words of, 'Yeah, I'm a sore loser due to the fact that I privation to win,'" Reeve said. "She came successful with that, and I was truthful giddy."
Collier added: "[It's] taking each of that choler and vexation and disappointment and turning it into: We don't privation to consciousness that mode again. We person to marque definite we are, individually, doing everything successful the offseason to get amended and past travel backmost and person a antithetic outcome."
Her sharpened attack has led to idiosyncratic statistical peaks. Collier is averaging a career-high 23.2 points connected 51.7% shooting (her highest shooting percent since her sophomore season). She's besides racking up 7.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.6 steals.
"Of course, I privation to beryllium the MVP," Collier said. "But I'm ne'er going into a crippled like, 'I request to get this galore points and I request to get excavation truthful I tin get my MVP numbers.' You spot it twelvemonth aft year: If your squad is winning, you'll get the awards. My No. 1 extremity is simply a championship. I'd overmuch alternatively get Finals MVP than league MVP, due to the fact that that means we won."
When the squad reported for the archetypal time of grooming campy successful May, Reeve told her players however their travel backmost to the Finals would beryllium adjacent harder than getting determination successful 2024.
"I had to punctual them repeatedly that your starting spot is not wherever we ended," Reeve said. "I was trying to get them to recognize that if you marque assumptions and skip steps, you can't get backmost to wherever we were. We person to bash it each implicit again ... our starting spot is zero, it's not the squad we were astatine the extremity of past season."
At first, Collier had to inquire Reeve what she meant.
Reeve clarified: "Every travel is different, and the challenges are going to beryllium different."
This play has been a gathering process for the Lynx. They started the play with a 9-0 agelong but were playing beneath their lofty standards -- winning games down the stretch, grinding them out, alternatively than dominating. They went done what they see to beryllium a slump, going 3-2 successful their past 5 games heading into the All-Star break, though that was astatine the extremity of a agelong of 10 games successful 18 days that Reeve called "one of the astir illogical schedules successful my 25 years of doing this."
With 17 games near successful the regular season, Minnesota wants its eventual individuality to instrumentality shape, and the Lynx started the last agelong of the play with a 23-point triumph implicit the Chicago Sky and 31-point triumph implicit the Aces.
There's an knowing successful Minnesota that, nary substance however implicit of a roster and however well-rounded a squad the Lynx are, they volition spell lone arsenic acold arsenic Collier leads them. She is the halfway of everything they do.
"I deliberation unit is simply a large thing. You person to execute good nether unit and I deliberation I bash that," Collier said. "This squad is mine. If we triumph oregon lose, some volition beryllium my responsibility. There's a batch much connected your plate, but I deliberation it makes maine a amended player."
AFTER LUNCH, COLLIER heads downtown to a precise overdue pedicure appointment. Between Mila, the Lynx, the WNBPA and Unrivaled, quiescent moments for self-care are rare.
As soon arsenic she gets home, she plans to nap earlier Mila is picked up from school. Her husband, Alex Bazzell, who is besides the president astatine Unrivaled, volition person concern updates from the league. And the adjacent day, she and the Lynx look the Aces.
The jumping from satellite to satellite continues.
"I consciousness similar everything happened gradually, not conscionable each astatine once," Collier said. "So it feels manageable, but obviously, I bash consciousness a batch of pressure."
Collier ne'er shows it.
"She has much grace successful her pinkie than I bash successful my full body," Reeve said. "She is truthful graceful successful everything that she does that she makes it look easy. And I'm definite it's not ... but she ne'er looks overwhelmed."
This calm, collected exterior arsenic Collier navigates her responsibilities, her antithetic worlds, is thing she learned arsenic a kid from her father. He told her to stay humble disconnected the court, and to ne'er amusement vexation connected it -- a maneuver that volition get nether her opponents' tegument much than anything.
Be unflappable.
Now, that's applied to each portion of Collier's life. A Minnesota fanbase hopeless for a championship. Fellow players gearing up for a labour fight. A stubborn toddler who adjacent clip mightiness request much than drawstring food to enactment her shoes on.
"They are each counting connected me," Collier said. "And erstwhile I deliberation astir it similar that, for immoderate reason, it takes the unit off. You tin fto yourself down, but I don't privation to fto them down."
