The WNBA season is off and running, and several teams are already starting to separate themselves from the pack. Only three undefeated teams remain after just a handful of games: the Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury.
Minnesota is on a revenge tour this year after falling short in the WNBA finals to the Liberty in 2024. Star forward Napheesa Collier is also out for blood, as she finished runner-up in the MVP voting to Las Vegas Aces forward A'ja Wilson last year.
Through three games, however, Collier has already shown that she is not messing around this year. In the early going, she is the MVP favorite, and the award may be hers to lose this season.
The WNBA MVP is Napheesa Collier's to lose
Collier is leading the WNBA with an absurd 28.3 points per game so far this season, and she is doing it on incredibly efficient scoring splits. She is averaging the second-most shot attempts per game in the league but still shooting 57.7 percent from the floor.
She has expanded her game as well and is getting more comfortable from the three-point line. Collier is shooting a career-best 44.4 percent from beyond the arc, which is one of the best marks in the league among players taking multiple attempts per game.
While her 6.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game are (relatively) mundane, she has been the key catalyst for the league's best team in the early going. That is typically a formula for winning the WNBA MVP trophy.
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The Lynx have not played any of the league's best teams yet, but if she can continue on this trajectory throughout the year, then there may not be a player who can catch her. Minnesota looks like it have what it takes to be a championship-caliber team this year also plays into her favor.
Collier is already a well-decorated player through five healthy seasons, with a Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year award already to her name. She's been a First-Team All-WNBA player the last two seasons as well, but she has even improved from those campaigns, which places her firmly at the front of MVP talks.
While each team still has over 40 more games to play this season, the honor is Collier's to lose because if the season ended today, she would win the award. If her Lynx teammates can continue to step up around her and take the pressure off of her, this will be more conducive to wins and better statistical outputs for Collier.
A championship is likely at the top of her list after last year's heartbreak in the finals, but an MVP nod would be quite the consolation prize.