Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier suffered a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in her left ankle and of a muscle in her shin during her WNBA semifinals Game 3 collision with Phoenix Mercury standout forward Alyssa Thomas, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Wednesday.
Collier’s injury comes with a six-week recovery period, according to Shelburne.
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That timeline confirms what Collier indicated Tuesday when she spoke with reporters in the Lynx’s end-of-season news conference. Collier said that even if Minnesota had advanced to the WNBA Finals, she wouldn’t have been able to play in the series because of her lower-leg issue, which she compared to a right ankle injury she sustained in early August that cost her seven games.
With 23.8 seconds remaining in Game 3 of the best-of-five semifinal series, Thomas made contact with Collier’s knee on a steal that turned into a game-sealing breakaway layup and left Collier on the floor in pain.
Thomas wasn’t called for a foul, much to the dismay of longtime Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve.
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Reeve berated an official, resulting in her ejection, which she ultimately followed with unfiltered postgame comments that played a part in her receiving an untimely one-game suspension for Game 4.
An injured Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier is helped off the court during the second half of Game 3 of a WNBA basketball playoff semifinals series game against the Phoenix Mercury Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Collier, a five-time All-Star forward who was the league’s frontrunner for MVP most of the season, was sidelined for the elimination game. Reeve couldn’t coach.
And the top-seeded Lynx, despite entering the playoffs with the league’s best record, fell once more to the red-hot Mercury.
Collier turned heads across the sports world Tuesday when she read a four-minute statement, calling out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and calling for more consistent officiating.
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Collier is also a vice president of the WNBA Players Association and a co-founder of the offseason 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, which Collier’s husband, Alex Bazzell, is the president of.
Upset with lack of accountability from the WNBA’s league office, Collier didn’t hold back punches in her strongly-worded message ahead of an offseason that will be defined by collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
“We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world,” Collier said during her statement. “But right now we have the worst leadership in the world.”
