MINNEAPOLIS—In a league already overflowing with talent, Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier has decided to collect accolades like Pokémon cards, and her latest grab is a big one: the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Not only has she locked down opponents on defense, but Collier has also casually decided to drop buckets and become one of the most dominant two-way players in the league.
Yes, you read that right. Not content with just being a brick wall on defense, Collier averaged a tidy 20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game. It’s the kind of stat line that makes you wonder if she’s also secretly coaching the team or driving the bus to games. To top it off, she finished second in the MVP race behind A’ja Wilson—who, apparently, took home that trophy before anyone else even had a chance to vote. But hey, Collier still managed to snag a shiny new defensive title. That’s a decent consolation prize, right?
This is Collier’s first Defensive Player of the Year honor, which feels like the basketball gods just catching up on overdue paperwork. “Oh, Napheesa’s been terrorizing offenses for six years? Guess we should give her this award now.”
Collier’s defensive dominance is no joke, even though we’re going to joke about it anyway. Opponents shot just 39.6% against her, which is roughly the shooting percentage of someone trying to play basketball while wearing oven mitts. She finished second in steals per game (1.9) and seventh in blocks (1.4), basically becoming every guard’s worst nightmare and every post player’s frustration personified.
Her peers apparently agreed. The Associated Press had already named her the Defensive Player of the Year, and now the WNBA’s 68-member panel of media elites followed suit. It’s almost like they were watching the same games or something.
But wait, there’s more! If locking down the paint wasn’t enough, Collier decided to throw in some extra fireworks on the other end of the floor. According to StatMamba (because of course there’s a StatMamba), Collier became just the fifth player in WNBA history to average over 20 points per game while being named Defensive Player of the Year. Talk about multi-tasking.
Now, just to really hammer the point home that she’s not human, Collier has been casually leading her Lynx team on a playoff tear. They finished second in the league with a 30-10 record and wasted no time sweeping the Phoenix Mercury out of the first round like they were just dusting off the welcome mat. In Game 1, Collier dropped a casual 38 points. Then, just for fun, she poured in 42 more in Game 2. No big deal, just one woman out here doing the work of an entire team.
Up next for Collier and her Lynx is a semifinals showdown with the Connecticut Sun. At this point, if the Sun has any sense, they’ll consider just not showing up.
So, to summarize: Napheesa Collier is a defensive nightmare, an offensive powerhouse, and probably a future Hall of Famer if she keeps this up. If you’re playing against her, good luck—you’re going to need it.
