Napheesa Collier will miss the upcoming Unrivaled season and potentially the start of the WNBA season as she plans to undergo surgery on both ankles, Unrivaled announced Thursday. The surgery is expected to occur next week, a source briefed on the situation told The Athletic.
The league said her expected timeline for recovery is four to six months, which could run into the start of the Minnesota Lynx’s season.
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Collier, an All-Star for the Lynx and one of Unrivaled’s co-founders, suffered injuries in both ankles during the 2025 WNBA season. She sprained her right ankle during a blowout win over the Las Vegas Aces on Aug. 2 before returning on Aug. 24. She played the rest of the regular season and almost all of the postseason, though the right ankle issue lingered and will now need surgery to repair torn ligaments. She also suffered ligament tears in her left ankle and a muscle in her left shin during the closing seconds of Game 3 of Minnesota’s WNBA semifinals loss to the Phoenix Mercury.
Collier said on Dec. 17 that she did not need surgery on her left ankle and hoped that through rehab, she would be ready for Unrivaled’s season, which starts on Jan. 5. Her medical team, involving staff from Unrivaled and the Lynx, determined she needs multiple procedures following additional exams during Unrivaled’s preseason.
“I have fought hard over the last few months to be back with my Owls and was devastated to be told by my team of doctors that surgery was the best path forward,” Collier wrote in an Instagram post Thursday. “I will still be cheering on my teammates every step of the way, and I will continue to work relentlessly with the rest of the players and our staff to push our sport forward and raise the bar for women’s basketball.”
WNBA games traditionally begin in mid-May, although ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement could alter the start of the season.
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Collier was a WNBA MVP front-runner before sustaining her initial ankle injury, but she still finished second in the award’s voting despite missing 11 games. The top-seeded Lynx lost in the semifinals when Collier sat out Minnesota’s season-ending Game 4 loss.
Golden State Valkyries center Temi Fagbenle will replace Collier on the Lunar Owls. Fagbenle spent the start of her WNBA offseason playing in China in the WCBA. The Lunar Owls also features Skylar Diggins, Marina Mabrey, Rebecca Allen, Rachel Banham and Aaliyah Edwards.
In addition to her leadership role at Unrivaled, Collier is a vice president for the Women’s National Basketball Players Association and a member of its executive committee. The players’ union and league have continued exchanging proposals in recent weeks, with Jan. 9 as the new deadline following two extension agreements between the parties.
Unrivaled expanded by two teams before its second season and will feature eight teams.
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The league, which raised capital from a group of investors at a $340 million valuation this fall, will feature more than a dozen first-timers, including the Los Angeles Sparks’ Kelsey Plum, Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers, Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell, Connecticut Sun’s Saniya Rivers, Golden State Valkyries’ Veronica Burton and Washington Mystics’ Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, WNBA
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