Napheesa Collier will make her season debut for the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday, as the team atop the WNBA standings welcomes the back-to-back MVP runner-up back to its lineup against the Seattle Storm.
“Excited for her,” Lynx coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said before the afternoon tipoff. “It’s been an incredibly long, arduous journey. Lots of ups and downs mentally and physically. We had a moment (Tuesday) where we kind of toasted to this isn’t the end but it’s a huge step.”
Reeve sought to tamp down expectations, noting Collier is not yet at “full tilt.”
The 29-year-old forward has been sidelined with a pair of ankle injuries suffered last season. Collier sprained her right ankle on Aug. 2 during a 53-point win over the Las Vegas Aces and missed three weeks before playing through the injury the rest of the way. In September, she tore ligaments in her left ankle and a muscle in her left shin at the end of Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury, a result of a collision with Alyssa Thomas.
the Queen returns.
👑 » https://t.co/E4kVdxRGC7 pic.twitter.com/yLdIUrRn8U
— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) July 22, 2026
After attempting to rehab the injuries — she told reporters in December that she hoped to be ready for the 2026 Unrivaled season — Collier instead had surgeries on both ankles after the calendar turned. Her recovery cost her the entire Unrivaled campaign and the first half of Minnesota’s WNBA season.
The Lynx’s unexpected strong start to the season has given Collier a long runway to focus on her health. The team is 21-6, on pace for the same number of wins as 2025 when Collier played 34 games at an MVP pace. Led by presumptive Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles, Minnesota enters Wednesday’s game with the WNBA’s third-best offensive rating, second-best defensive rating and best overall net rating. Three Lynx players were named All-Stars, with Miles and Natasha Howard earning starting spots in Saturday’s showcase.
“We do recognize the narrative of someone who’s been incredible like Olivia has, and to insert Phee and what do they look like together,” Reeve said. “I’m just as excited to find out. Everybody is excited, but certainly the rookie is excited to have another vet like her on the court.”
Collier has been a full participant in Minnesota practice since July 1. She has never come off the bench in her WNBA career but Reeve said she will be “mindful” of the star’s minutes in her debut.
Collier hasn’t been far from the limelight despite not playing since Sept. 26. She lambasted commissioner Cathy Engelbert in her season-ending exit interview days later, saying the WNBA had the worst leadership in the world and was sabotaging its product by failing to improve officiating, setting the stage for a protracted labor battle. Collier took an active role in CBA negotiations as a vice president of the union (she has since been elected first vice president). She was a constant presence at Unrivaled, the three-on-three league she co-founded with Breanna Stewart, and has been present on the sidelines throughout the WNBA season.
The five-time All-Star is coming off perhaps her best season as a pro, when she averaged a career-best 22.9 points despite playing the fewest minutes of her WNBA career. Collier has averaged at least 20 points each season since giving birth to her daughter in 2022. She has been a top-five MVP finisher all three of those years and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2024.
The Lynx advanced to the WNBA Finals that season but came up short in a five-game series against the New York Liberty. Collier is still chasing her first WNBA title, which would be Minnesota’s fifth overall (the most in league history) and first since 2017.
