Napheesa Collier on a tough draw for Paris 2024, her hunger for a WNBA title, and being a mom while playing basketball
When Napheesa Collier returned to Istanbul to play with Fenerbahce after the FIBA Antwerp Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February, she heard some good-natured ribbing from her teammate, and star of the Belgian team, Emma Meesseman.
Meesseman and Collier faced off in the tournament in a tight game between Belgium and the U.S. Collier’s American team squeaked out a win over Belgium.
“She kept saying that Kelsey [Plum] stepped out of bounds. I was like, what? The refs didn't call it. I don't know what you want me to do about it, but she didn’t step out of bounds. Yeah, it was fun for me. Not so much for her,” Collier said to Olympics.com with a laugh.
Having Meesseman as a rival one week and a teammate the next is a snapshot of just how busy Collier’s 2024 has been. In addition to helping USA to a 3-0 record at the OQT, she was a key part of Fenerbahce winning the EuroLeague in April. Now, she’s back in the U.S., playing for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, whose season kicks off next week. Winning with Fenerbahce just made her hungrier to get a WNBA championship.
“It does, because the celebration was so fun," she said. "Winning the WNBA championship is a goal that I've had for forever, and EuroLeague is kind of a new goal. I feel so emotionally tied to a WNBA championship that the feeling that I got winning EuroLeague would just be times by a thousand. So it definitely makes me want to recreate that even more.”
Collier is coming off her best WNBA season, and will be playing with a Lynx team coached by Cheryl Reeve, who will also coach Team USA at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The Olympic basketball tournament will come in the middle of a long WNBA season.
“The first thing [Reeve] said is this is going to be a long season. It's going to be really hard. We have just as many games with a month less to play them. So it's going to be pretty grueling, and then obviously the Olympics in between that. That's obviously something that we're really locked into. She understands it's going to be a long season, so she’s trying to give me as much time as she can,” she said.
The draw for women’s basketball at the Olympics slotted the U.S. into group C. While they are the defending Olympic gold medalists and reigning FIBA World Cup champions, winning again won’t be easy. The U.S. will have to face Belgium and Japan, the 2020 Olympic silver medalists, in the first two games in France.
“Our group is really tough, so it's definitely going to be hard. Playing teams like that close together, as well, is also really hard. They're going to be even hungrier. So it's going to be a tough group,” she said.
Napheesa Collier makes her daughter part of her basketball career
Collier gave birth to her daughter Mila in May of 2022. Mila is often around her mother’s games and practices. She was the star of the Minnesota Lynx media day, and celebrated Fenerbahce’s win with the team in Türkiye. Collier’s teammates love spending time with Mila. For Collier and her husband Alex Bazzell, it’s part of the plan to make sure Mila sees women working hard to attain their dreams.
“We're on the road all the time, so whenever I can have her near me, I definitely take the opportunity, but also to, for one, be surrounded by so many successful women. I think it’s really important, and to see how hard we work every day to achieve our goal, I think that's really important. I love that she's around that every day, she sees me doing something that I love and being successful. And I think that is also important for young girls to see, being passionate about what we're doing,” Collier said.
But it’s not just about Mila being around role models every day. She also is lucky enough to have rosters full of aunts on every one of Collier’s teams.
“The love that she's surrounded with! I've been so thankful that my teammates love Mila, just like I do. So, to have her surrounded by so many people who love her and who are playing with her, it's just been so fun to watch."
Bazzell played college basketball, and worked as a trainer for WNBA and NBA players like Candace Parker and Carmelo Anthony. Sports are in Mila’s genes, but Collier said she won’t try to push her.
“She’s set up for it, right? Both her parents are in the field, but Alex doesn't even want her to play basketball. Actually, he really wants her to play tennis. So, I mean, I'm going to be happy with whatever she does. I hope she plays sports just because I love sports in general. I'll be happy if it's basketball, but obviously I want her to follow her dreams, but I really hope her dreams lead her to a sport,” Collier said.
Napheesa Collier's hopes for Paris 2024
Collier won gold with Team USA at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The U.S. team for Paris has not been named, but Collier hopes she will get a chance to have the full Olympic experience. Health protocols prevented her from going to see other sports or meeting athletes from around the world, or having her family in the stands.
“The experience of the Olympics. Right? I didn't really have it in the first one. We were so locked down. It was peak COVID. We weren't allowed out of our hotel room, so you couldn't see any other sports. There were no fans. So just having, like, the real experience of the Olympics. I'm so excited for that. It was amazing for me last time, but I have nothing to compare it to. It was the Olympics, so it was awesome. But I am excited to experience it in its full gloriousness this time, and then also to experience it with my family,” she said.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have exclusive authority over the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, so each athlete's participation in the Paris Games will depend on the selection of their NOC to represent their delegation in Paris 2024.