Napheesa Collier made her long-awaited season debut in last week’s game between the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm, and it didn’t take her very long to reestablish herself. Collier recorded 24 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action as the Lynx cruised past the Storm and carried a league-leading 22-6 record into the WNBA All-Star break.
There’s no doubt that Collier is one of the WNBA’s top players, and she’s typically one of the first few names chosen in fantasy drafts. When healthy,
Collier is monstrously productive, having finished No. 2 in fantasy points per game in each of the last two seasons.
Collier missed a significant amount of time to begin 2026 after having surgery on both ankles, however, and it created a domino effect of sorts throughout Minnesota’s lineup. Without their best player, several Lynx would have to step up, and that’s exactly what’s happened. Natasha Howard, in particular, has looked rejuvenated in her second go-around in Minnesota, while Nia Coffey has been posting career-highs across the board. Rookie guard Olivia Miles, meanwhile, has been incredible, ranking No. 6 among all WNBA players in fantasy points per game (35.5).
With Collier back in the fold, the question becomes which of the Lynx will maintain their current production and which will have to take more of a back seat.
For someone like Miles, who raises Minnesota’s ceiling with her ability to get into the paint and create quality looks for her teammates, Collier’s return shouldn’t be too much of an issue. If anything, Collier may be the one who has fewer playmaking duties relative to past seasons; the Lynx won’t want to put too much on her plate right away, and with the backcourt of Miles and Courtney Williams doing most of the ball handling, Collier will be free to focus on contributing in other areas—scoring, in particular.
This isn’t such good news for Coffey, though. While the 10th-year forward has been one of the more pleasant surprises in fantasy basketball—she’s averaging 2.4 defensive stats and 1.5 3-pointers in 26.1 minutes per game—Collier’s return all but guarantees her role will be diminished. Coffey is too valuable of a player to fall out of Minnesota’s rotation completely, and she’s not someone who needs the ball in her hands to contribute, but she’ll likely be out of the starting lineup and play fewer minutes once Collier is back up to speed.
As for Collier herself, those who drafted her know what they’re going to get: elite scoring on highly efficient shooting splits and plenty of rebounds and defensive stats. If her first game back was any indication, Collier is ready to pick up where she left off in 2025. Congratulations are in order if you drafted her and were able to hang onto her with an IL spot. Your patience is about to pay off big time!
Is Kiki Rice ready to take over in Toronto?
The Toronto Tempo have been ravaged by injuries for most of their inaugural season, with starting guards Brittney Sykes and Kiki Rice missing a combined 21 games through the All-Star break. It’s been understandably difficult for the Tempo to maintain their guard-heavy style of offense, and after a solid start they’ve dropped eight of their last 10 games.
The good news is that Rice, who has been out since early June with an ankle injury, appears to be nearing a return. According to Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello, Rice recently practiced fully for the first time since suffering her injury, and the team expects to have her back soon, so long as her conditioning is where it needs to be.
This is obviously terrific news for anyone who has Rice on their fantasy team. The high-profile rookie was a popular waiver-wire add early in the season, and she was averaging 12.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game (23.1 fantasy points in standard leagues) at the time of her injury.
The important detail here is that when Rice does come back, it will be to a much different-looking Tempo team. Sykes is expected to miss at least a few more weeks, which means that the 15.2 shots per game the veteran off-guard was averaging will have to go elsewhere, as will her reps as a primary ball handler.
Up until now, that’s meant more for Julie Allemand to do, though she remains a somewhat hesitant shooter. The same can’t be said for Rice, whose ability to push pace, get into the lane and draw fouls has been sorely missing from the Tempo’s offense. With the high-usage Sykes still on the mend, there’s now a golden opportunity for Rice to step in as Toronto’s secondary backcourt scorer behind Marina Mabrey, and the Tempo will probably want to give the No. 6 overall pick those extra reps regardless of how the rest of their season goes.
It seems as though many fantasy managers lost their patience waiting for Rice to get healthy, as she’s currently rostered in just 22.8 percent of ESPN leagues. Consider this latest news your invitation to pick her back up.
