Napheesa Collier will be sidelined for a few weeks after spraining her right ankle against the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, the team announced late Monday.
Collier will be reevaluated in the coming weeks.
The MVP frontrunner appeared to step on teammate Alanna Smith’s left foot and immediately went down near Las Vegas’ bench with the Lynx holding a 92-49 lead late in the third quarter.
She attempted to stand but sat back down on the court, writhing in pain, and was immediately surrounded by Aces starters A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, NaLyssa Smith and Kierstan Bell, who all held towels to shield her from exposure.
Collier’s teammates, coaches and trainers eventually made their way to the opposite end of the court to tend to the 2025 All-Star MVP.
"It's frustrating," WCCO's Henry Lake says about the injury. "She's had some injuries this season, it's tough to see her out of this lineup. I mean, we have a strong team, but we need her."
Collier has had a tremendous season for the league-leading Lynx and was clearly the frontrunner for the league's MVP Award. She has already been named the WNBA's Western Conference Player of the Month twice.
"Hopefully this does not derail her winning the MVP either, her being out a couple of weeks," Lake adds. "Let's just hope that it ends up being a little bit less than a couple of weeks. You're about to go through a stretch where you're gonna face some really good teams and you need her, and she's spectacular to this point in the season."
The Lynx (24-5) have three games this week, including a WNBA Finals rematch in New York on Sunday against the Liberty. New York has its own injury issues with Breanna Stewart out for a few weeks with a bone bruise in her right knee. Minnesota has a 5 1/2 game lead on New York in the standings.
Minnesota Lynx (24-5, 16-2 Western Conference) at Seattle Storm (16-13, 9-7 Western Conference)
Seattle; Tuesday, 9 p.m. (CT)
BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota Lynx will look for its 25th win of the season when the Lynx visit the Seattle Storm.
The Storm are 9-7 in conference play. Seattle is 7-7 against opponents with a winning record.
The Lynx are 16-2 against conference opponents. Minnesota currently has the WNBA’s highest scoring offense with 87.2 points while shooting 47.0%.
Seattle makes 44.5% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.0 percentage points higher than Minnesota has allowed to its opponents (41.5%). Minnesota averages 8.6 more points per game (87.2) than Seattle gives up to opponents (78.6).
The two teams match up for the third time this season. The Storm defeated the Lynx 94-84 in their last matchup on June 12. Nneka Ogwumike led the Storm with 21 points, and Napheesa Collier led the Lynx with 25 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ogwumike is scoring 18.0 points per game with 7.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists for the Storm. Skylar Diggins is averaging 12.5 points and five assists over the past 10 games.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.