"Had to shut her down": Napheesa Collier's husband Alex Bazzell breaks down postpartum struggles prior to Finals run

In May 2022, Napheesa Collier and her now-husband, Alex Bazzell, had their daughter Mila. Just 74 days after giving birth, the Minnesota Lynx star returned to the WNBA court, although she wasn't fully ready for the full season.

Collier's husband Bazzell, who is also her trainer, spoke about the WNBA star's tough journey after motherhood.

Bazzell joined Mitchell Hansen on the "Hitting the Hardwood Podcast" and spoke about his wife's hard journey back to the basketball court after delivering their child.

He recalled that when the reigning Defensive Player of the Year returned to the gym after pregnancy, Collier was trying too hard.

"I mean, we had to communicate quite a bit with Chuck, who's obviously the lead trainer with Lynx and developing a plan," Bazzell said.

"Because when she came back, initially, she was probably, she was trying to do too much, too early, and then you had to shut her down for, you know, two or three weeks, to get her back to neutral. So that was probably the biggest challenge."

The trainer husband of the WNBA star also added that when they resumed the workout after weeks, they started with a small routine. However, she still didn't think she was physically ready to play WNBA basketball.

Bazzell also said that the initial phase of motherhood took a big toll on his wife. He recalled that Collier's body wasn't getting back to normal after her pregnancy. They were sometimes uncertain about the condition of her body as well.

"And there's certain elements of even, you know, her breastfeeding, that her body wouldn't return back to the normal, you know, quick twitch muscles and all those things that you need as an athlete. It just took much longer than we both anticipated."

However, Napheesa Collier fought back harder than ever. She had an excellent 2023 WNBA season. The Lynx star had a career-high in scoring and averaged 21.5 points per game. She also averaged 8.5 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

This season, she again had an MVP-like season, averaging 20.4 points and a career-high 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.

Napheesa Collier reveals her husband shares heavy load in parenting

Napheesa Collier and her husband Alex Bazzell knew each other when she was still in high school. The couple started dating when Collier was in her junior year at UConn. Bazzell was her full-time trainer but clearly, they had a hard time keeping their eyes off of each other.

Napheesa Collier had an amazing 2024 WNBA season. Although she couldn't lead her Lynx team to a championship, she had the best overall individual season for herself. Collier told US Weekly that a lot of her great performances on the court have been because of her supporting family.

Collier said that although her husband Alex Bazzell has full-time work to do, he takes the load of parenting off her during the WNBA season.

“My husband takes a huge load of the parenting during the season just because I’m gone so much. I’m just so lucky to have a partner who supports me in this way. It’s not easy juggling this (career and family). He also has a full-time job.”

Napheesa Collier also said that her father, who has rented an apartment in the same apartment as her, helps her with her parenting. The Lynx star said that she would leave her daughter with her father if she had the game the next day. It helps her have sufficient rest before the game.