Fresh off a dominant performance against the Phoenix Mercury and an incredible season for the breakout Minnesota Lynx, superstar Napheesa Collier is taking home some silverware.
The Lynx forward was named the WNBA’s defensive player of the year for the first time in her impressive two-way career, The Athletic’s Sham’s Charania reported on Friday.
Collier, 28, carried the Lynx to a 30-10 record this season — the second-best record in the league — to help them win the West while averaging 20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
Though A’ja Wilson might have put up more impressive counting stats numbers, eclipsing her in blocks and rebounds, Collier’s defensive rating was top of the league at 91.2 and she finished second in defensive win shares at 3.7, only slightly behind Wilson at 3.8.
Overall, however, the Lynx were the much better defensive team, finishing second in the WNBA with a defensive rating of 96.5 and gave up the second-least points per game at 75.6.
Collier has been out of this world so far in the post-season, helping the Lynx crush the Mercury by scoring 38 points in Game 1 and 42 in Game 2 while adding a little bit of everything on both ends.
She and the Lynx are set to take on the Connecticut Sun in the second round for a chance to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time in Collier’s career.
The series opens up on Sunday, Sep. 29, at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet 360.
