Napheesa Collier named WNBA DPOY; Cheryl Reeve wins the coaching award

The Minnesota Lynx picked up plenty of accolades on Sunday as Napheesa Collier was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and Cheryl Reeve, who led the U.S. women’s national team to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, was named both the league’s Coach of the Year and Coach of the Year. Director of the Year.

The awards highlight the great streak of the Lynx, the No. 2 seed in the WNBA playoffs, which will host the Connecticut Sun in the first game of the semifinals on Sunday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Collier, who finished second in the MVP race to Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson, received 36 votes from a national panel of 67 media members to win the award for the first time.

Wilson, who has been the league’s DPOY the past two seasons, was second with 26 votes. Ezi Magbegor of the Seattle Storm was third with three votes, while DiJonai Carrington of The Sun and Courtney Williams of the Lynx each received one vote.

Collier posted the longest two-game stretch in WNBA playoff history, scoring a total of 80 points in two first-round wins over the Phoenix Mercury. The Lynx also led the WNBA, averaging 101.5 points in two playoff games.

While she excelled offensively, Collier was the leader of a defense that finished second in defensive rating and first in opponents’ effective field goal percentage. According to ESPN Research, Collier, as the closest defender this season, held opponents to a 36.2% success rate, which is the highest result in the league.

Collier finished second in the WNBA in steals (1.91 per game), third in rebounds (9.7 per game) and seventh in blocks (1.41 per game), posting career-high averages in all three categories. She joins former Lynx standout Sylvia Fowles, a four-time winner, as the only franchise players to win the award.

“I’m just focused on getting to the next round and playing the next game,” Collier said Wednesday after tying a WNBA postseason record with 42 points in a victory over the Mercury. “I think I owe it all to my really great teammates. We had a lot of assists. I think all my baskets were assisted. My teammates did a great job of finding me and just taking advantage of what the defense was giving us.”

Reeve, who set a record by winning her fourth WNBA Coach of the Year honor, continued her momentum after leading the national team to a gold medal in Paris. She led the Lynx to a 14-2 record after the Olympic break, the highest mark in the WNBA. But her personnel decisions were as crucial as her coaching.

In February, she signed free agents Williams and Alanna Smith, who have been key players this term. Williams finished sixth in assists this season and Smith connected on 40% of her three-point attempts, which created problems for opposing teams as the 6-foot-10 perimeter forward also averaged 1.5 blocks.

In August, Reeve switched to Myisha Hines-Allen, who became a catalyst for the Lynx.

“We have so many threats on the field that it’s really hard to pin too many people on one player,” Collier said last week.

Reeve joins Curt Miller as the only people to win Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year awards in the same season. Reeve received 62 of 67 votes for the coaches award, and Sandy Brondello of the New York Liberty, whose team is the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, received four votes. Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides, whose team reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016, received one vote.

The WNBA also released its All-Defensive team, with Collier, Wilson, Magbegor, Carrington and Liberty’s Breanna Stewart named to the first team. Smith of Minnesota, Alyssa Thomas of Connecticut, Nneka Ogwumike of Seattle, Jonquel Jones of New York and Natasha Cloud of Phoenix were named to the second team.