Since play resumed from the Olympic break earlier this month, only one team in the WNBA has a perfect record: the Minnesota Lynx. After a terrific week in which they beat the defending champion Las Vegas Aces twice, then pulled away from the Indiana Fever on Maya Moore night, the Lynx have now won six games in a row and are just half a game back of the No. 2 seed.
Their impressive depth, bolstered by the trade deadline acquisition of Myisha Hines-Allen, has played a big role in this hot streak, but no one deserves more credit than Napheesa Collier. Fresh off helping Team USA to a gold medal for the second time, Collier has been playing the best basketball of her career.
She has multiple 30-point games during this stretch, and recently pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds in a win over the Aces on Friday, out-rebounding their entire team in the process. Post-Olympic break, Collier is averaging 25.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while shooting an absurd 66.2% from the field. In that span she leads the league in scoring.
Collier’s recent run will almost certainly be too little, too late for an MVP push, but if she keeps playing like this, the Lynx will be a real threat to lift the bigger trophy in a few months.
