Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, a leading MVP candidate this season, will be out indefinitely with aggravated plantar fasciitis in her left foot, head coach Cheryl Reeve told reporters prior to the team's win over the Washington Mystics on Saturday.
Collier, who did not play on Saturday, suffered the injury on July 4 during the team's 78-73 loss to the Connecticut Sun on Thursday.
Late in the third quarter, Collier was on the left wing watching the play unfold, then started to cut to the basket. As she did so, something happened to her foot, and she began limping. Immediately, she signaled to the bench for a substitution and checked out at the next dead ball. After initially sitting down on the bench, she went to the locker room -- under her own power, but with a pronounced limp -- and did not return.
Collier was enjoying another strong all-around game with nine points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks at the time of her departure. At that point, the Lynx were trailing 55-53; they were outscored 19-11 over the next 10 minutes of action and went six minutes without a basket in the fourth quarter.
Entering Thursday's showdown with the Sun, Collier was averaging 20.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. All of those marks are career-highs save for scoring, and she was fourth in the league in scoring, third in rebounding and third in steals. Furthermore, she was on pace to join Chamique Holdsclaw as the only other player in WNBA history to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists for a season.
Thanks in large part to Collier's brilliance, the Lynx got off to a 13-3 start this season and won the Commissioner's Cup championship for the first time in franchise history. Even with their win over the Mystics, however, they are just 2-3 in their last five games. Collier's injury is not what they need right now, especially as they embark on a West Coast road trip.
If there's any silver lining for the Lynx, it's that they only have four more games before the Olympic break, which runs from July 18 to Aug. 15. It remains to be seen if Collier will return before play halts for the Olympics, but even if she does, she should be back in action when play resumes next month.
Collier is set to represent Team USA in Paris later this month, and her status for that tournament is still to be decided.
