Napheesa Collier Leaves Lynx Loss with Injury
Napheesa Collier has had a terrific season thus far for the Minnesota Lynx. Which made the sight of her leaving the court after suffering a left foot injury in the team's loss to the Connecticut Sun Thursday night even more concerning. Collier exited late in the third quarter and did not return.
Collier was the MVP of the Commissioner's Cup final and is supposed to be playing with Team USA in the Olympics. Her coach for both Minnesota and the Olympics squad Cheryl Reeve did not have an update on Collier's status after the game.
The Lynx have now lost two games in a row for the first time this season, with the loss to the Sun perhaps at least in part due to Napheesa having to leave the contest. Reeve said this about playing without the team's star, "Like any team losing their MVP candidate, it's a little harder, but that's sometimes what it is. We try to focus on what we do have. We went small, tried different things to see if we could find an advantage."
Collier is averaging 20 points and 10.2 rebounds a game for Minnesota. Her name has come up in WNBA MVP conversations as a result, though Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces thinks teammate A'ja Wilson has that wrapped up.
Napheesa is supposed to take part in the WNBA All-Star Game coming up on July 20th alongside the USA roster, with the Olympics set to begin in Paris about a week later.
ROBIN LUNDBERG
Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his burgeoning YouTube show. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak on SI!