Typically, it’s important 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 certain in myself and like motherhood 1751313488,” she says. “I’m again to taking part in, 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. All the things was model new.”
Right this moment, on set with Collier—higher identified in these elements as Queen Phee—you’ll be able to see a change. She’s now a two-time Olympic Gold medalist, a WNBA finalist, the co-founder of Unmatched, the unmistakable chief of her staff and now a captain for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Sport. 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 remains 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: , final yr felt prefer it was a contented accident. Yearly you attempt your finest, after all, however we occurred to have the perfect staff chemistry-wise after which we additionally occurred to be actually good basketball gamers. And to have each of these issues—it sounds small, nevertheless it’s actually uncommon once you love your entire teammates and also you guys are good at basketball on the similar time. So we type 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 looks like—we wish to make the perfect of it and profit from this yr.
SLAM: You’ve performed below Coach Cheryl Reeve your complete skilled profession. What’s it about her teaching fashion that has pushed you to develop?
NC: I feel Cheryl does a extremely nice job of placing folks in locations to achieve success. She brings out the perfect in you as a participant, and he or she is aware of the place you’re going to suit properly into the staff and how you can get that out of you. So she’s actually taught me, like, how you can benefit from the stuff you’re actually good at, and clearly work on the issues it’s worthwhile to. She type of makes you take 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 impression on you?
NC: That’s so onerous as a result of we’ve two [Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen] on the teaching workers. However I imply, Mama Syl [Sylvia Fowles] is certainly certainly one of my favorites. I performed along with her for 4 years. She’s simply, like, the perfect particular person you ever wish to meet. So I’ve to say she’s undoubtedly certainly one 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? When you ever want something, you come to me, and he or she simply, like, acquired 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 recreation day. , 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 few 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 accountability for the youthful folks 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 folks. You see what that accountability 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 maintain 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 the whole lot?
NC: Getting drafted to Minnesota, as a result of you don’t have any management over the place you get drafted. And also you at all times suppose, Wherever I am going, you’re gonna make the perfect of it. However I’m so fortunate to have gotten drafted right here, and it’s modified the trajectory of my complete profession. So it might 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 don’t have any management and also you’re gonna go wherever you go. You need to go there. However I’m so fortunate that it occurred that manner. And after I acquired 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 large one—mom and spouse. I’m so household centered. I take a whole lot of delight in these areas. I’m a household particular person. At my core, I like simply decompressing, being round my household. I might a lot relatively 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 will depend on if it’s a weekend or a college day, or Mila, if it’s a college day, you understand, she’s at college for a bit of bit so I get a while to loosen up. I’ll in all probability—that is going to sound boring—however get errands accomplished. Getting that accomplished for me is enjoyable now, so I don’t know, shopping for stuff for my home, or taking a nap is superior, binging some exhibits, 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: Undoubtedly my household, my daughter. It simply places so many issues into perspective. Like I stated earlier than, basketball has by no means been an important factor in my life, nevertheless it 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 taking part in a recreation on the finish of the day, and taking part in the sport is de facto vital, however my household is the primary at all times. So whether or not I’ve an excellent day or a nasty day, Mila on the finish of the day, she’s like, “Mama!” [and] runs into your arms. It simply makes the whole lot higher. So my why has undoubtedly modified in that manner.
SLAM: How do you handle the chaos of the whole lot that the season brings?
NC: I don’t really feel like I take work house 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 beloved napping. So napping is primary when I’ve time, however, additionally, like beginning exhibits or watching films, doing issues away from basketball, actually type of fills my cup again up so I may give my all when I’m taking part in.
SLAM: You gained your second Olympic God medal final summer season with Crew USA. Does it really feel just like the Olympics have been simply yesterday or truly virtually a yr in the past?
NC: Actually, each. As a result of after I give it some thought, that it’s been virtually 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 may very well be yesterday. However then I feel, after that we went to the WNBA Finals, we launched Unmatched—I’ve accomplished all this stuff since then. So it’s type of like that on the similar time. It feels distant and prefer it simply occurred.
SLAM: The panorama of ladies’s basketball has been continuously rising and evolving. While you suppose again to your rookie season, did you ever think about this might be the truth?
NC: No, actually. I imply, it’s loopy, as a result of often change occurs so slowly, you’ll be able to’t actually monitor it. Like, it occurs little by little, and rapidly you take a look at the place you might be and it’s totally different. This variation has occurred so quick. You possibly can monitor yr by yr how totally different it’s. So it’s wonderful to be part of. I didn’t know if this might occur [during] my profession, so to see it occur so shortly, it’s so enjoyable to be part of.
SLAM: Your involvement within the development has not gone unnoticed, with the creation of a brand new group in Unmatched. 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 probably the most playing cards we’ve ever held, probably the most energy that we’ve ever held as girls athletes. Simply the best way that individuals 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 capable of see us on TV greater than ever. Like, we nonetheless wish to make a whole lot of adjustments in that space, nevertheless it’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’ll be able to see the playing cards, like, altering palms virtually, or the facility the gamers clearly have probably 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 pressured 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 once you spend money on girls’s sports activities—like, once you pay the gamers accordingly, once you give them an opportunity to be homeowners in a league. I feel it’s unimaginable. Simply the buy-in that you just get from the gamers, how properly it’s acquired by the followers. You additionally get a bit of bit the place the League aspect comes from. Clearly as gamers, we wish to ask for probably the most sum of money. And also you see the enterprise aspect the place you might have X bills. What I do suppose is there are areas the place we might 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 via Unmatched. I hope Unmatched is prospering in that manner, 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 manner—that’s the aim of what Unmatched is.
There’s nonetheless lots I wish to accomplish as a participant, too. So I hope I alter the League in that manner. I wish to win championships, I wish to win various things, so in each of these areas, I hope I depart a mark.
Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.