Typically, you need to sit again and mentally rewind the clock to see simply how far you’ve come and all that you just’ve achieved. Three years in the past, Napheesa Collier coated WSLAM Vol. 2 with the coverline “Superwoman.” Simply two weeks postpartum, Collier was on set along with her new child daughter, Mila, exhibiting her energy as a hooper and as a mom.
“I’m like a brand new mom, simply attempting to determine life,” Collier says, pondering again to her mindset on that day. “I really feel far more positive in myself and like motherhood 1751475263,” she says. “I’m again to enjoying, in order that feels actually good. Being round my teammates once more. I simply really feel far more grounded in my life. That point was so unsure. Every thing was model new.”
At the moment, on set with Collier—higher identified in these elements as Queen Phee—you possibly can see a change. She’s now a two-time Olympic Gold medalist, a WNBA finalist, the co-founder of Unequalled, the unmistakable chief of her staff and now a captain for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Recreation. As we went to press, Collier was averaging a League-leading 24.5 ppg together with 8.4 rpg and three.8 apg for the League-leading Lynx.
Three years have flown by, however one factor stays the identical: Collier continues to be a superwoman.
SLAM: You have been the primary Western Convention Participant of the Month this season. What has modified for you from final yr to this yr?
NAPHEESA COLLIER: You realize, final yr felt prefer it was a cheerful accident. Yearly you attempt your finest, after all, however we occurred to have the most effective staff chemistry-wise after which we additionally occurred to be actually good basketball gamers. And to have each of these issues—it sounds small, but it surely’s actually uncommon if you love your whole teammates and also you guys are good at basketball on the similar time. So we sort of fell into that final yr. And so now we all know what it may be. I feel simply ensuring that we don’t lose that chance. This yr, that’s what it appears like—we need to make the most effective of it and take advantage of this yr.
SLAM: You’ve performed beneath Coach Cheryl Reeve your entire skilled profession. What’s it about her teaching model that has pushed you to develop?
NC: I feel Cheryl does a extremely nice job of placing individuals in locations to achieve success. She brings out the most effective in you as a participant, and she or he is aware of the place you’re going to suit effectively into the staff and the best way to get that out of you. So she’s actually taught me, like, the best way to make the most of the stuff you’re actually good at, and clearly work on the issues you might want to. She sort of makes you have a look at the sport a bit of bit extra technically, and I feel that makes you a greater participant.
SLAM: There are such a lot of nice former Lynx gamers. Which veterans have had the largest affect on you?
NC: That’s so laborious as a result of now we have two [Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen] on the teaching employees. However I imply, Mama Syl [Sylvia Fowles] is certainly one in every of my favorites. I performed along with her for 4 years. She’s simply, like, the most effective particular person you ever need to meet. So I’ve to say she’s undoubtedly one in every of my favorites.
SLAM: Are you able to give us a narrative throughout the time you performed collectively?
NC: Syl was the primary person who welcomed me after I got here to the Lynx, the very first day of coaching camp, which—she’s, like, a Corridor of Fame participant, MVP, Defensive Participant of the 12 months. She’s like, What’s up child? If you happen to ever want something, you come to me, and she or he simply, like, bought me in an enormous bear hug. I used to be squished on her. And that’s simply who she is. In order that was superior to have her as my vet coming into the League, and now nonetheless she texts me after each sport day. You realize, Good job, or Good lucokay, or no matter it’s. She’s superior.
SLAM: You’re on this interval of your profession the place you’re not but a vet…
NC: Thanks for saying that.
SLAM: Over the previous couple of years, you’ve seen the League develop, however you’ve additionally grown your self as a participant. How has that transition been?
NC: Yeah, I feel it’s simply extra duty for the youthful individuals in your staff. I talked earlier about how Syl made me really feel as a rookie, so inviting. And now it’s my job to try this for the youthful individuals. You see what that duty is. That is my seventh season. I nonetheless really feel younger on the within, however now I’ve to comprehend that it’s my job to care for the youthful ones. So having that transition was a bit of bit tougher a pair years in the past when it began.
SLAM: Wanting again, are you able to consider a second in your profession that felt small on the time however ended up altering every part?
NC: Getting drafted to Minnesota, as a result of you haven’t any management over the place you get drafted. And also you at all times assume, Wherever I am going, you’re gonna make the most effective of it. However I’m so fortunate to have gotten drafted right here, and it’s modified the trajectory of my whole profession. So it may need appeared small on the time—like, clearly not small within the sense that you just’re getting drafted and it’s so thrilling, however you haven’t any management and also you’re gonna go wherever you go. It’s a must to go there. However I’m so fortunate that it occurred that means. And after I bought drafted right here, that undoubtedly modified my life.
SLAM: If we have been to take all of the titles and accolades away, how would you describe your self at your core?
NC: I really feel like mom is a big one—mom and spouse. I’m so household centered. I take loads of satisfaction in these areas. I’m a household particular person. At my core, I like simply decompressing, being round my household. I’d a lot reasonably have an evening and play video games with my household than be out anyplace else.
SLAM: What does an ideal off-day seem like?
NC: An ideal off-day for me—it depends upon if it’s a weekend or a faculty day, or Mila, if it’s a faculty day, you recognize, she’s in school for a bit of bit so I get a while to chill out. I’ll most likely—that is going to sound boring—however get errands executed. Getting that executed for me is enjoyable now, so I don’t know, shopping for stuff for my home, or taking a nap is superior, binging some reveals, simply doing, like, lazy stuff is the right day.
SLAM: What drives you now that perhaps didn’t drive you early on in your profession?
NC: Positively my household, my daughter. It simply places so many issues into perspective. Like I mentioned earlier than, basketball has by no means been a very powerful factor in my life, but it surely was the largest factor for a extremely very long time. And so now there are simply so many extra issues which can be a lot extra vital to me. And it actually grounds you, it makes you see that it’s not so vital. Like, we’re enjoying a sport on the finish of the day, and enjoying the sport is admittedly vital, however my household is the primary at all times. So whether or not I’ve a great day or a nasty day, Mila on the finish of the day, she’s like, “Mama!” [and] runs into your arms. It simply makes every part higher. So my why has undoubtedly modified in that means.
SLAM: How do you handle the chaos of every part that the season brings?
NC: I don’t really feel like I take work dwelling with me. I’ve by no means been one which was obsessive about basketball. I actually love to do different issues in my life. And so undoubtedly, I like napping. I’ve at all times liked napping. So napping is primary when I’ve time, however, additionally, like beginning reveals or watching films, doing issues away from basketball, actually sort of fills my cup again up so I may give my all when I’m enjoying.
SLAM: You received your second Olympic God medal final summer time with Crew USA. Does it really feel just like the Olympics have been simply yesterday or truly nearly a yr in the past?
NC: Truthfully, each. As a result of after I give it some thought, that it’s been nearly a yr, it’s loopy—a lot has occurred in between then [and now]. Additionally, it’s so vivid in my thoughts that it feels prefer it might be yesterday. However then I feel, after that we went to the WNBA Finals, we launched Unequalled—I’ve executed all these items since then. So it’s sort of like that on the similar time. It feels far-off and prefer it simply occurred.
SLAM: The panorama of ladies’s basketball has been always rising and evolving. Once you assume again to your rookie season, did you ever think about this may be the truth?
NC: No, actually. I imply, it’s loopy, as a result of often change occurs so slowly, you possibly can’t actually monitor it. Like, it occurs little by little, and rapidly you have a look at the place you might be and it’s totally different. This transformation has occurred so quick. You may monitor yr by yr how totally different it’s. So it’s superb to be part of. I didn’t know if this may occur [during] my profession, so to see it occur so rapidly, it’s so enjoyable to be part of.
SLAM: Your involvement within the progress has not gone unnoticed, with the creation of a brand new group in Unequalled. As a participant, trailblazer and chief throughout the league, how would you describe this time in girls’s basketball?
NC: I feel it’s identical to such a time of empowerment, actually, like we maintain essentially the most playing cards we’ve ever held, essentially the most energy that we’ve ever held as girls athletes. Simply the best way that folks view girls’s sports activities, the accessibility to us is greater than it’s ever been, the supply, the best way that you just’re in a position to see us on TV greater than ever. Like, we nonetheless need to make loads of modifications in that space, but it surely’s higher than it’s ever been, and you’ll see the expansion that’s taking place due to that. And so, yeah, I simply really feel like we’re in a time the place you possibly can see the playing cards, like, altering palms nearly, or the facility the gamers clearly have essentially the most energy. And it’s clearly, as a participant, a extremely enjoyable time to be part of girls’s sports activities.
SLAM: Constructing the League one brick at a time, you’ve at all times careworn the significance of the W being an area to play and to speculate. Now seeing the enterprise aspect, what are some classes you’ve picked up?
NC: I feel you see what occurs if you spend money on girls’s sports activities—like, if you pay the gamers accordingly, if you give them an opportunity to be homeowners in a league. I feel it’s unbelievable. Simply the buy-in that you just get from the gamers, how effectively it’s obtained by the followers. You additionally get a bit of bit the place the League aspect comes from. Clearly as gamers, we need to ask for essentially the most amount of cash. And also you see the enterprise aspect the place you may have X bills. What I do assume is there are areas the place we may push the boundaries some extra.
SLAM: If somebody 10 years from now says, “Napheesa modified the League,” what do you hope they imply?
NC: I hope by “change the league” they imply undoubtedly by means of Unequalled. I hope Unequalled is prospering in that means, and due to that, it’s pushed the envelope in all of ladies’s sports activities [and] we’re altering what it means to pay and deal with girls’s athletes. So I hope that we’re trailblazers in that means—that’s the purpose of what Unequalled is.
There’s nonetheless loads I need to accomplish as a participant, too. So I hope I modify the League in that means. I need to win championships, I need to win various things, so in each of these areas, I hope I go away a mark.
Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.
