The WNBA needs to change it from MVP to MVPhee with how Napheesa Collier is playing

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series from SB Nation profiling the 2025 WNBA All-Star teams. Today, let’s get to know Napheesa Collier.

Napheesa Collier has long been recognized as one of the next great players in the WNBA, but in the past year, she has changed next to now. She was expected to be great when she was drafted out of UConn, but since she has returned from missing the 2022 season due to pregnancy and childbirth, she’s hit a new level of skill. Now in 2025, Collier is a fully realized No. 1 option on a championship-caliber team, an MVP candidate, a super mom, and an entrepreneur whose efforts as an Unrivaled founder might literally change how the WNBA has to do business.

This season in the W, Collier is leading the league with 23.9 points per contest, grabbing 7.7 boards per game, blocking 1.6 shot attempts, and adding 1.7 steals and assists per game to a packed stat line. Collier does it all on the court: she can score from anywhere, dish it to her teammates, and has playmaking vision. On the defensive end, Collier defends the rim with her size and athleticism, which earned her the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Of course, she’s a firecracker on a 5x5 court, but she’s the queen of the 3x3 court as well. After creating the Unrivaled 3x3 league with Liberty All-Star and 2024 finals opponent Breanna Stewart, she went on to crush in its first-ever season. She won the league’s 1v1 tournament midseason, earning herself a $200,000 bonus. Her Lunar Owls team was 13-1 on the season, and Napheesa was named the league’s MVP as well. Her play in the offseason for Unrivaled transitioned seamlessly back to the WNBA, where the Minnesota Lynx have separated themselves as frontrunners with an 18-4 record so far.

This great play has led to another All-Star berth for Collier. And not only is she a starter, but with the second-most fan votes, she is also the captain of her team. She and Caitlin Clark (the other captain) drafted their teams last week, and Collier was able to draft her Unrivaled co-founder in Stewart, as well as her Lynx teammate, Courtney Williams, to her team. Collier also got Paige Bueckers on her team, as well as Angel Reese.

In all of her roles on and off the court, Collier makes “doing it all” seem easy. Of course, she has time and time again noted the support she has from her husband, Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell, as well as her parents. Yet, she leads the WNBA with poise and dedication, fighting for things like higher pay, better amenities, and increased benefits for her fellow players. That was a huge part of Unrivaled’s mission for their first season — showing what first-class treatment for women’s athletes could look like. The Unrivaled facilities had childcare services, an aesthetician, and glam room and more.

She and Stewart’s efforts have shown the world what is possible for women’s professional sports. She brings that mindset back to the WNBA as well. Maybe most importantly of all, all of this is being seen by her daughter, Mila, who will grow up in an environment where she can watch women take their destiny into their own hands.

As of right now, the 2025 MVP award is pretty solidly in Napheesa Collier’s grasp. While she doesn’t need the accolade to continue the great work she does in the basketball world, an MVP award would just prove what we already know: that Napheesa Collier is one of the most talented women’s basketball players in the world right now, and ever. With how well she is leading her Lynx squad this season, it seems like the WNBA will be giving out an MVPhee award instead of an MVP award this year.