The Minnesota Lynx and star forward Napheesa Collier have come to terms on a 1 year, $1.4M supermax contract on Thursday night. Collier becomes the 3rd player in the WNBA to sign a supermax deal with a team joining A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Mitchell.
“Phee has been such an integral part of the Lynx since she was drafted in 2019,” head coach Cheryl Reeve said in a statement. “Coming off a historic 50/40/90 season and guiding the Lynx to the most wins in franchise history, Phee is hungry to position the Lynx for a championship run in 2026.”
As a result of the new CBA, the 29 year old will now become an unrestricted free agent in 2027, with Minnesota being unable to re-designate her as a “core player” after already exercising that right this spring. The MVP runner up averaged 22.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as the Lynx posted a league best 34-10 record in 2025.
Collier is currently coming off ankle surgery and was given a 4-6 month recovery timeline in January. While the team has been tight lipped on any updates to her recovery process, the expectation in many circles is that Collier will miss the beginning of the regular season, but shouldn’t be sidelined for too much longer beyond that.
Her presence will be especially important this year after the team lost several players to the expansion draft and free agency. Bridget Carleton was selected by the Portland Fire in the expansion draft, while Nathisa Hiedeman, Jessica Shepard, Alanna Smith, and DiJonai Arrington all departed this offseason.
That being said, because of a previous trade with the Chicago Sky, the club was able to add rookie of the year candidate Olivia Miles in this year’s draft. Miles is widely considered one of the best point guards in the country at either the professional or collegiate level, and is likely to play a big role in the Lynx’s immediate and long term plans.
The Lynx will take on the Washington Mystics in preseason action on Saturday, April 25th, before hosting the expansion Toronto Tempo franchise on Friday May 1st. From there, they’ll make some decisions on their final roster before kicking things off with a clash against the Atlanta Dream in their home opener on May 10th.
Photo: Lorie Shaull. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.