Back in May 2022, Napheesa Collier shocked the world and the whole Minnesota Lynx squad as she returned to play just 10 weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Mila. So, when she returned to the starting lineup against the Fever after missing the past seven games due to a right ankle sprain, we already knew she had it better off. But this time she didn’t come silently—she raised an alarm beforehand, though it went unnoticed. “I’m back,” she said a day before backing up those 67% votes she received from GMs before the beginning of the regular season in favor of her winning the MVP race this time. It’s just a reminder — don’t count her out yet, and Lisa Leslie just didn’t!

Averaging a league-high 23.5 points with 7.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals (third-highest in the league), and 1.6 blocks (fourth-highest per game), Collier’s been the heartbeat of the Lynx all season. So when she was back on the floor, Leslie knew the perfect words to back up her dominance as she shared on the recent episode of We Need to Talk, “Listen, she’s back. That’s what I gotta tell you, because Queen Phee took the floor. She had two quick turnovers, a little rusty when she started out, but she got it together later.” 

And can you blame her? No, because while Minnesota managed a 5-2 record in her absence, including a 95-90 win over Indy, her presence immediately raised their ceiling as the MVP frontrunner wasted no time reminding fans of her position against the Fever—and this time she did it in the same unique way.

She attempted a clutch two-pointer that sparked an 11-0 Lynx run, flipping the momentum and giving them the lead. But yes, it didn’t come that easily, as Collier had to work hard throughout to make her strategies work. “When we are playing our defense, I don’t think there’s anyone who can beat us,” she said in a post-game conference, and rightfully so.

Second quarter, at the 2:29 mark, Courtney Williams brought the ball up looking calm and patient until she found Kliundikova wide open, and right there, you see the brilliance, a two-point shot. But it’s not just Kliundikova who shone, but it was the mastermind who gave it a direction, and yes, it was Phee, shouting, pointing, and then commanding her to dive to the rim.

Well, that’s exactly what leadership looks like in real time, as nearly every rotation, every hand in the lane, it came from Collier’s voice. Well, Leslie puts it better as she shared: “Knocking down the three-point shot, her ability to get to the basket. She moves so well without the ball. Finishing on the inside strong, but then you’ve got the tenacity. Getting after the board, staying with it, finishing strong on the inside with the and-one… It’s not just her effort on the offensive end. She makes players around her so much better. She moves so well without the ball, but she’s graceful… She’s always reading the defense.”

And of course, all that makes sense since she’s the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and only the second Lynx player, alongside Sylvia Fowles, to claim this award. For her, all that defensive dominance isn’t something new, as even last year, she was in the conversation for MVP. The Lynx were among the top teams vying for a championship title, and she was leading the league in stats as she averaged 20.4 points with 9.7 rebounds, which was third across the league back then.

Even her 1.41 blocks were seventh in the league, and her 1.91 steals were second— all career highs that even helped Lynx finish with the league’s second-best defensive rating while holding teams to the W’s lowest field-goal percentage at 41.0% last year. But for 2025, she’s leveled up as she’s now averaging 23.5 points per game with seven games still left before the playoffs. Defensive head, right? But she didn’t just sound defensively great!

Napheesa Collier ends up revealing Indy’s weaknesses on the court

As the Minnesota Lynx star forward played for the first time since suffering an ankle injury, she caused a lot of issues within the Fever’s defense, pulling up for her trademark midrange shot. She drew so much attention from Indy’s defense that it allowed her teammates to get more open looks, and that’s how she ended up shooting 11-of-16 from the field — enough to accumulate 32 points with nine rebounds. But it wasn’t just Collier’s effect leaving Indy unresponsive defensively!

That’s because when Indy last entered the court against the Lynx at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, they lost 95-90. But as the Lynx chipped away, the lead was cut down to 52-50 by halftime, and by the third quarter, the Fever were outscored 32-17 as Minnesota slowly and gradually pulled away toward victory.

And yes, that’s the pattern as it happened even in a loss before the Lynx. It was when Fever ended up struggling in the same way against the Washington Mystics after having opened the game with a 23-16 lead. But shortly after they fell short in the second quarter, 24-22, then 22-19, and 26-20, and at last, they lost the game by four points, 88-84.

So you see, Fever started strong but failed to keep up with the momentum, and that’s exactly how they’ve fallen to eighth place from sixth. Meanwhile, the Lynx (29-7), already holding the WNBA’s best record and sitting 6 games clear of the Atlanta Dream, look even more dangerous. And with Collier back, the league’s top team just regained its fiercest weapon at the perfect moment.