Women's Fastbreak On SI

Sabrina Ionescu's Viral Bond With Napheesa Collier's Daughter Runs Deeper Than WNBA Finals

An August article provides heartwarming context about the wholesome bond that Sabrina Ionescu shared with Napheesa Collier's daughter.

Grant Young

Aug 4, 2024; Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France; United States guard Sabrina Ionescu (6) and small forward Napheesa Collier (11) look on after defeating Germany in a women’s group C game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images
Aug 4, 2024; Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France; United States guard Sabrina Ionescu (6) and small forward Napheesa Collier (11) look on after defeating Germany in a women’s group C game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Superstars Sabrina Ionescu and Napheesa Collier are hours away from competing against each other in the biggest game of each of their respective basketball careers.

While either Ionescu's New York Liberty team or Collier's Minnesota Lynx squad will be devastated by the time Game 5 of the WNBA Finals ends this evening, many fans probably will be still poring over a wholesome interaction between Ionescu and Collier's daughter after Friday's intense Game 4 ended.

NBC Sports' @OnHerTurf X account posted a heartwarming video of Ionescu and Collier's daughter, Mila, embracing postgame with the caption, "Sabrina Ionescu and her husband have a sweet moment with Napheesa Collier’s daughter after game 4. 🤗".

The video (which currently has over 1.7 million views) wasn't the only depiction of this interaction. There was also a photo of Ionescua and Collier's daughter that was posted by Collier's husband Alex Bazzell and was captioned, "Ever since the Olympics, she is always asking where Sab is 😂".

Bazzell is alluding to the fact that this cute relationship stemmed from Collier and Ionescu being Team USA teammates at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Mila and Sabrina seemed to have spent a lot of quality time together during the Olympics. And an August 6 article from USA Today's Lindsay Schnell that discussed how all of Team USA basketball's moms are navigating the hectic Olympics schedule with their kids who came on the trip with them provides more context about this pairing.

"As for who the favorite non-mom on Team USA is, there was no question: All the kids gravitate toward New York guard Sabrina Ionescu, who each mom said she’d hire as a nanny," Schnell wrote. "Ionescu called it an honor to be chosen for that role."

It appears that Ionescu didn't mind being on nanny duty for her teammates.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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