The Lynx’s future beyond this season is very uncertain—although not necessarily in a bad way. The best-case scenario for the franchise would be that they either win this year’s championship or come close enough that Napheesa Collier re-signs and they have two MVP candidates thriving next to each other. Collier was the MVP runner-up in 2024 and 2025, and Olivia Miles will likely fill that spot this year.
However, there are also two other possibilities. One is that they lose out on a title once again and Collier leaves in free agency to see if she can get over the hump elsewhere. The other one is that Collier re-signs, but simply cannot play the way she needs to win that elusive MVP award now that Miles holds the keys to the franchise.
Miles is already an MVP candidate now, and she will only continue to improve. Moreover, Cheryl Reeve is obviously open to leaning fully into Miles as the Lynx’s offensive engine. If the Lynx remain a top team, Miles will likely get a lot of the attention for MVP, or at least take some of the votes Collier could get and hurt her chances to beat out players like A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.
Collier could have several phenomenal seasons in Minnesota with Miles as her teammate, but if she wants to win MVP, she may have to leave and become the face of another franchise. As long as Wilson is in the WNBA, winning an MVP award will be incredibly difficult for anyone. It will be even more difficult for Collier if she is splitting votes with another legitimate candidate on her team or even ends up in her co-star’s shadow.
MVP is the one major award still missing from Collier’s resume
Napheesa Collier has won every big WNBA award except for MVP or Finals MVP—not counting Most Improved Player, which isn’t necessarily on the bucket list for most top players.
Collier was named Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2019. In 2020, she made the All-WNBA Second Team and the All-Defensive Second Team. By 2023, she played her way onto the All-WNBA First Team and the All-Defensive First Team. A year later, she added Defensive Player of the Year and Commissioner’s Cup MVP to her resume.
Last season, she added an All-Star Game MVP award to the list and joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club, but still lost the MVP race to A’ja Wilson.
The two things Collier still needs are an MVP award and a championship ring. She has the talent to win both. The question is just whether it will happen with the Lynx.
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