It has been nearly two weeks since Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier suffered a right ankle sprain during a 111-58 win over the Las Vegas Aces -- and if she doesn't return to the court soon, the WNBA MVP award she has been favored to win might be heading to another player.
Collier, the Lynx's star player, has missed Minnesota's past three games with the injury, though the Lynx continue to win nonetheless. Minnesota has the league's best record at 27-5 and clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday without even playing.
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However, Bleacher Report's Nekias Duncan predicts that the longer Collier remains unavailable, the more likely it is that another candidate -- like the Mercury's Alyssa Thomas or the Aces' A'ja Wilson -- could sneak in and claim MVP honors for 2025.
"Solely within the context of this award race, Collier needs to return to the court as soon as possible," Duncan wrote. "If she's back Tuesday, running the table would have her at 37 games played out of a possible 44. Her production, her team's dominance with her on the floor, and the team's record in light of that should be enough for her to hold on."
Collier, the league leader with 23.5 points per game, remains the favorite to win her first MVP award, and she could well return in the next week, just in time for another WNBA Finals rematch with the New York Liberty.
But an absence stretching into the last week of August or even beyond could see Thomas, Wilson, or Dream guard Allisha Gray gain unstoppable MVP momentum.
"If she's out for longer than that—an understandable scenario considering how tricky ankle injuries can be, and I'm sure Collier would tell you herself that being healthy for a title run is more important than pushing for MVP—the door would open even more for Thomas, Gray and Wilson," Duncan wrote.
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