Women's Fastbreak On SI

Unrivaled Reveals Star Player's Unexpected Injury Status Before Playoffs

Unrivaled is dealing with another injury to one of the world's best women's basketball players.

Grant Young

Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Napheesa Collier (24) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Courtney Vandersloot (25) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Napheesa Collier (24) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Courtney Vandersloot (25) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

While the Unrivaled women's basketball league has been a massive success in its first season, there have been several injury announcements regarding some of the league's biggest stars in recent weeks.

One example of this is with Chicago Sky superstar Angel Reese, who seemed to have re-injured the same wrist that she broke at the end of her 2024 WNBA rookie season and needed surgery to fix. It has since been revealed that Reese has been ruled out of her Rose BC team's Unrivaled semifinals game against Laces BC on Sunday.

Mist BC superstar and Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart also was dealing with a knee injury during the league's season, which she had a minor surgery to fix after the regular season concluded.

And on Sunday, news broke that Stewart's fellow co-founder Napheesa Collier — who will most likely win Unrivaled league MVP — is dealing with her own injury.

ESPN women's basketball insider Kendra Andrews made an X post that wrote, "Napheesa Collier is now considered questionable for tonight's semifinal game, per Unrivaled. Left ankle issue."

This seems to be a relatively new injury, as Collier has been healthy and on the court to this point in the season. It's definitely good news that she wasn't ruled out of her game immediately, which signals that the injury isn't overly severe.

Still, though, Collier potentially being sidelined is a brutal blow for her Lunar Owls BC team, who went 13-1 during the league's regular season and seem like the most likely team to win the championship.

That is, if Collier can take the court.

Recommended Reading:

Published |Modified
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.

Home/News