Napheesa Collier drops 2-word reaction on former teammate's heartfelt shoutout for winning sportsperson award

Minnesota Lynx All-Star Napheesa Collier showed her appreciation to her former collegiate teammate Kyla Irwin for her heartfelt shoutout to Collier for winning The Minnesota Star Tribune sportsperson of the year award.

Irwin, who played with Collier at UConn, took to Instagram stories to give props to her former teammate for her latest accolade. She shared the Lynx's announcement of their star player winning sportsperson of the year and captioning it:

"You are so cool. The most deserving person I know."

Napheesa Collier was touched by the gesture of Irwin and had an affectionate reaction to it. She wrote on her IG story:

"Love you!"

UConn love

Napheesa Collier was recognized as Star Tribune's sportsperson of the year following an eventful 2024 campaign. She helped the Lynx win the WNBA tournament-within-a-tournament Commissioner's Cup and reach the WNBA Finals while winning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year along the way.

For the season, she averaged 20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks to finish second in the MVP voting. Moreover, she added a gold medal to her haul with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

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Napheesa Collier excited for what Unrivaled offers to the women's game

Following an eventful 2024, Napheesa Collier will add a new hat for the brand-new year as co-founder of the newly formed 3-on-3 Unrivaled Basketball League. She's excited for it to tip off later this month and showcase new dimensions in how the women's game is played.

Collier, along with fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart, came up with the idea of Unrivaled as a viable alternative for women's professional players to showcase their wares and earn good money. Its inaugural season is slated to start on Jan. 17 in Miami and runs for three months.

The Minnesota Lynx All-Star spoke about the league in an interview with the Bleacher Report, sharing how the idea for the league came about and what makes it different from the others.

Napheesa Collier said:

"It's been great. Coming together for something that's bigger than us has been amazing as well. I think we both see the vision, even with women's sports already exploding, that it can grow even more."

She added:

"Besides the competition on the floor, which everyone knows is going to be really good, I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised by the content and the access they'll get to the athletes."

Apart from being the co-founders, Collier and Stewart are also part of the teams seeing action in the inaugural season of Unrivaled. They are two of 36 WNBA players that are a part of the league. Games of the 3-on-3 league will be aired over TNT Sports.