Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson named WNBA MVP over Lynx star Napheesa Collier

If Napheesa Collier’s introduction Sunday night at Target Center had a little extra emphasis on her typical tagline, “She’s our M-V-Phee, 6-1, from the University of Connecticut,” it’s only echoing what Lynx players and coaches have been saying about Collier all season.

Collier finished runner-up in voting for the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player award to the Aces’ A’ja Wilson for the second year in a row, the league announced Sunday morning. Collier’s career-best season helped the Lynx to the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and now to a 1-0 edge in the semifinals after they defeated the Phoenix Mercury 82-69 in Game 1 on Sunday.

Wilson, now a league-record four-time MVP, received 51 of 72 first-place votes from a body of national and local media members who were asked to rank five players on their ballots. Wilson’s 657 points beat out Collier’s 534.

“I’m still focused on the championship. That has been my main goal the whole season,” Collier said before Sunday’s game when asked for her reaction to the award results. “Of course, I want to win MVP, but the championship was what, you know, I really wanted for the season.”

Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas finished third, with 391 points, followed by Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray (180) and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell (93 points).

In helping the Lynx to league-best offensive and defensive ratings, Collier joined Elena Delle Donne as the only players in WNBA history to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from three-point range and 90% from the free throw line in a season. Collier was first to do so while averaging over 20 points per game.

“It’s only been done once before,” Reeve said at the end of the regular season, “and that player was the MVP of the league.”

“I’m really proud of myself, you know, 50/40/90, that’s something that’s only been done twice, so I’m proud that I was able to do that,” Collier said.

Against the Mercury, she grabbed nine rebounds and finished with 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including eight straight points to help dig Minnesota out of an early hole and tie the game at the end of the third quarter.

Reeve also was asked pregame if she had a reaction to the MVP voting. “I don’t,” she said. “You know, voters, just like Defensive Player of the Year or whatever, those voters did what they did, and we’re focused on Game 1.”

Last year, Wilson’s historic season — setting WNBA records for points and rebounds in a season — earned her unanimous MVP honors. Collier, the Star Tribune’s 2024 Sportsperson of the Year, took home Defensive Player of the Year and set a postseason scoring record (285 points) in taking the Lynx to the WNBA Finals, where they lost to the Liberty in a controversial winner-take-all Game 5.

This year, Collier was the go-to option on a team that started the season with “that chip on our shoulder,” said Collier, and immediately laid claim to the top of the league standings. The Lynx’s case for their “MVPhee” was that Collier was the best player leading the best team in the league.

An inflection point in this year’s MVP voting likely can be traced to Aug. 2, when the Lynx traveled to Vegas and routed Wilson’s Aces 111-58, the second-largest road victory in league history.

Late in the third quarter, Collier rolled her ankle after a collision with teammate Alanna Smith. A high ankle sprain sidelined Collier for seven games. She finished the regular season having missed a quarter of the Lynx’s 44 outings. (Jonquel Jones, 2021 MVP with the Connecticut Sun, missed five games in a shorter, 32-game season, the most sat out in an MVP campaign.)

The Aces, 14-14 at the time of Minnesota’s blowout, ended the regular season on a 16-0 tear.

Wilson finished the season averaging league bests in points per game (23.4) and blocks (2.3) and finishing second in rebounds (10.2), on a 50.5/42.4/85.5 shooting split. She scored 30-plus points in 13 of her 39 games, earned a share of Defensive Player of the Year and hauled Vegas to the No. 2 seed and into the second round of the playoffs, against the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever.

Should the Aces and Lynx each win their best-of-five semifinals series, the teams will meet in the WNBA Finals, a best-of-seven series for the first time in league history. Las Vegas dropped Game 1, 89-73 on Sunday, with Wilson scoring 16 points on 6-for-22 shooting and grabbing 13 rebounds.

“I’m a very goal-oriented person, so when I accomplish those, it just feels good,” Collier said.

“We’re just going to set more goals now,” Hiedeman told her at their last regular-season postgame news conference. “I’m gonna give you some more.”