There’s no championship hangover allowed — and certainly no almost-championship hangover — for Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx.
Minnesota dropped a dramatic five-game series to the New York Liberty in the 2024 WNBA Finals, ending with a 67-62 overtime loss in the decider. Even with the entire starting lineup returning and the title-favorite Liberty losing a starter, the Lynx know there’s one goal heading into the new season.
Napheesa Collier Explains Motivation After WNBA Finals Defeat
Collier laid out the team’s mindset as training camp opened Sunday, April 27. “We don’t feel sorry for ourselves, but it is something we use to fuel us,” she said.
“It’s just a feeling you don’t want to feel again, so [we’re] making sure we’re coming in every day, starting today, with good energy. … The coaches were telling us … about how they lost in a heartbreaker in 2016 [WNBA Finals], and they used that to fuel them for 2017. That’s the story that we want to have for this year.”
The Lynx, under head coach Cheryl Reeve, also lost in five games in the 2016 WNBA Finals to the Los Angeles Sparks, interrupting a would-be three-peat. Minnesota claimed the title in 2015 over the Indiana Fever and vanquished the Sparks in five games in 2017.
They had a similar win-loss-win streak in the Finals between 2011-2013, beating the Atlanta Dream twice and losing to the Fever once.
Collier Poised for MVP-Level Season
Collier was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, as the Lynx finished 30-10; she ranked second in the league in defensive rating and finished second in MVP voting behind A’ja Wilson.
The 2019 Rookie of the Year out of UConn, Collier, averaged 20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game in 2024. She played for the gold-medal winning United States team at the 2024 Summer Olympics and starred in the 3-on-3 Unrivaled league, which she co-founded with WNBA Finals nemesis Breanna Stewart, during the offseason.
In game five of the 2024 WNBA Finals, Collier led all players with 22 points, adding seven rebounds before picking up her sixth personal foul in the extra period. She led the team in points (19.0), rebounds (8.0), and blocks (1.8) during the WNBA Finals, and she paced all players in the series with 3.4 steals per game. Collier played all 40 minutes in Games 3 and 4, and 44:25 in the overtime in Game 5.
Minnesota will begin its quest for victory and vengeance with a preseason game against the Chicago Sky on May 6 and makes its regular-season debut against No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings on May 16.
