Napheesa Collier Named 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year
Sun, Sep 29, 2024, 2:46 PM
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL – The WNBA today announced that Lynx forward Napheesa Collier has been selected the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year presented by KIA. Collier received 36 votes from a national panel of 60 media members and broadcasters in earning her first Defensive Player of the Year honor. She joins Sylvia Fowles (2016, 2021) as the only players in Lynx history to win the award.
Collier wrapped up her sixth season in Minnesota by starting 34 games and averaging 20.4 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.91 spg and 1.41 bpg in 34.7 mpg. She was second in the WNBA in steals, third in rebounds and seventh in blocks, posting career-high averages in all three categories, and helped the Lynx finish with the league’s 2nd-best Defensive Rating (94.8) while holding teams to the WNBA’s lowest field goal percentage (41.0%).
Originally selected by Minnesota in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2019 WNBA Draft, Collier has averaged 17.4 ppg (48.3%), 7.9 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.69 spg and 1.18 bpg in 160 career regular season games (33.7 mpg). She appeared in her fourth WNBA All-Star Game on July 20 in Phoenix (also 2019, 2021 and 2023) and won her second Olympic gold medal on Aug. 11 in Paris, France (also 2021 in Tokyo, Japan).
Highlights from Collier’s 2024 season include:
Hauled down her 1000th career rebound May 29 vs. Las Vegas, becoming the sixth player to reach that total in a Lynx uniform, and finished the year with a career-best 18 double-doubles.
Scored 30 points and swiped a club-record eight steals June 14 vs. Los Angeles, joining Cynthia Cooper (Aug. 11, 1997) and Chamique Holdsclaw (July 20, 2000) as the only players in WNBA history to tally 30+ points and 8+ steals in the same game.
Contributed 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, four steals and three blocks June 30 at Chicago, becoming the fifth player in franchise history to register a 5×3 game (pts/reb/ast/stl/blk).
Grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds Aug. 23 vs. Las Vegas, singlehandedly outrebounding the Aces 18-17 in the contest. She joins Maya Moore (June 19, 2013 at Phoenix) as the only players in Lynx history with a 25+ point/15+ rebound/5+ assist performance.
