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Five-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier has spent the better part of the year in recovery. Last season, she injured both ankles. Early this year, she had surgery on each of them.
In the meantime, on the court, her Minnesota Lynx are dominating, coming in at the top of the league with an impressive 21-6 record. “I'm so proud of them,” Napheesa tells Women’s Health. And, while she would rather have been playing this whole time, watching it all come together—including for rookie Olivia Miles—was still a bright spot amid the long days of recovery.
“It's been really fun to watch—just to see the chemistry and the joy that they play with,” she says. “I think we've exceeded everyone's expectations, which is always fun too.”
That all may change tonight, as the team captain was listed as probable to play against the Seattle Storm. As for how she’s feeling? “I've never had surgeries like this before, so I don't think I'm going to feel back to myself 100 percent when I step back on the court,” she says. But she’s been giving everything to her recovery, and trusts that it’ll all come back to her. “I think the flow of the game will come naturally,” she says. “I played it for so many years, I think that always comes back.”
Though she’s been on the sidelines for a while, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been busy. A normal day for Phee has looked like arriving at the gym two hours early for treatment, rehab, and lifting—and then heading to practice. Afterwards, she’d do even more treatment on her ankles before heading home for a nap and then picking up her daughter from school. In the process, Phee has learned a lot about recovery and comebacks. Here’s what went into hers.
Phee Has a Tailored Supplement Stack
It’s part of what led her to partner with NSF Certified for Sport supplement brand Thorne. “As an athlete, your health and wellness is foundational to who you are,” she says. What she puts into her body is critical to that.
Shop Phee’s Stack
For Phee, supplements are about optimization. They’re not a replacement for nailing recovery efforts like sleep or eating enough protein, but they can make an impact. “Anything that you can do to push yourself over the edge even a little bit is worth it and it goes a long way,” she says. “That may be the difference in the fourth quarter where you can run a little bit faster or jump a little bit higher than the other person because you're more recovered or whatever it is.”
As for the supplements that have helped move the needle for her: Phee takes vitamin D, vitamin C, omega-3, and a multivitamin. Her latest additions are collagen and creatine—both of which she added ahead of surgery.
She Also Takes Advantage of High-Tech Healing
Phee makes good use of the Lynx’s red light bed and hyperbaric chamber, which she says made a big difference in her recovery.
“I’ve actually really, really noticed a difference with red light,” she says, despite being skeptical at first. Now, she uses it for about 20 minutes pretty much every day. “You have to be consistent.”
She Doesn’t Rush the Process
As she works to get off the injury report, Phee and her team of trainers, coaches, and doctors have been careful about making decisions surrounding her return. “You don't want to rush that,” she says. “You want to make sure that you're coming back 100 percent healthy and just crushing the rehab.”
As an athlete, she really wants to get back on the court, but she’s trying to maintain perspective: These months have felt long, but they’re a blip over the course of her career. It’s one of the most important lessons she’s learned about comebacks throughout the process. “It feels huge now,” she says. “I'm thinking about games I've missed and I want to be with my teammates, but when you put it into perspective of my entire career and how many more years I have left, making sure that I'm good now makes sense.”
Plus, while recovery has been a major part of her life, it’s not the only thing she’s got going on. For example, Phee is a co-founder of Unrivaled, which she led through the WNBA off-season.
Her 4-year-old daughter, Mila, helps her maintain perspective, too. “She just gives me such a purpose and really puts everything into perspective,” Phee says. “Of course, going through injury and not being able to play is really hard mentally, but she doesn't care if I never step on the court again. I'm Mama to her—I'm not a basketball player.”
She calls Mila her “mental reset” from everything she’s focused on at work. “I feel like everyone says this, but the beauty that kids see in the world is so different from how we do. Everything is beautiful through her eyes, so it's just really fun to experience that with her.”
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