INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Napheesa Collier played the role of All-Star captain perfectly.
First, she made all the right picks for her roster. Then she answered all the labor questions. And finally, she showed everyone, even the WNBA's young guns, how to stay focused on basketball.
The five-time All-Star scored a record 36 points, grabbed nine rebounds and led the aptly named Team Collier past Team Clark 151-131 in the highest scoring All-Star Game in WNBA history. Naturally, Collier was selected the MVP.
She made 13 of 16 shots, four from the specially designed AT&T logo 4-point-line that seemed perfectly aligned for Caitlin Clark, the other team captain who didn't play because of a right groin injury. And it was all by design.
“I tried to make my team not have that many new players," Collier said. "I've played with a lot of them and so it was good to get back with them, play with, like you said, some of those new players I haven't played with before.”
But for Collier, this weekend in Indianapolis was about much more than a single game.
The vice president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association executive committee, co-founder of the Unrivaled basketball league and the league's first one-on-one tournament champion, never got distracted by a demanding schedule that forced her to prioritize the WNBA's future over adding another award to her trophy case.
Collier spent Thursday afternoon negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement and Friday answering questions from a throng of reporters detailing the meeting. On Saturday, she shared the pregame stage with Clark for a news conference between the captains. And after the game, there were even more questions about the CBA.
“I feel like I haven't been able to forget it (Thursday's meeting) because people won't let us, which is amazing,” Collier said. “Just the awareness we've raised this weekend, you guys asking these questions, the fans doing the chants, that, like, gave me chills.”
But Collier also helped fuel the effort.
She, like the other All-Stars, wore a T-shirt that read “Pay us what you owe us" during pregame warmups.
Then she reinforced the message with a historic game.
Collier broke the All-Star Game's individual scoring record while her team scored a record 82 first-half points. Another of Collier's picks, Seattle guard Skylar Diggins, became the first player with an All-Star triple-double in the same venue she led Notre Dame to the national championship game more than a decade ago.
And Collier even connected with rookie Paige Bueckers, both former UConn stars, for a basket. The captain couldn't have scripted it any better.
“We set a lot of records,” Collier said. “Skylar had a triple-double, which is insane. It was just so fun. We had a great time.”
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Michael Marot, The Associated Press
