Napheesa Collier’s history-making 50/40/90 was part of the plan all along

Collier became just the second qualified player in WNBA history to achieve such a stat line and the first to do so while also averaging more than 20 points per game. Elena Delle Donne became the first WNBA player to hit 50/40/90 when she did it for the Washington Mystics in 2019. Delle Donne won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award that season and also led the Mystics to the championship. 

Delle Donne welcomed Collier to one of the most exclusive sororities in sports immediately.

“Congrats! Welcome to the club!” Delle Donne posted on her Instagram account. “Should we get friendship bracelets?” To which Collier replied, “Ordering bracelet supplies asap.” 

Whether ‘Phee + EDD + 50/40/90/handshake emoji’ friendship bracelets ever hit the public market is a development WNBA fans will watch with great interest. Until then, perhaps the most interesting element of Collier’s historic achievement is her coach confirming this specific and rare stat line has been part of the plan all along. 

“It can be revealed now, but it was a goal of ours when we sat down with Phee, knowing that it would be a lofty goal it had only been done once before, and that player was MVP of the league, and Phee deserves that same recognition,” Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said during her postgame press conference. “The numbers don’t lie. I think that’s something voters should look at.”

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Reeve has never been coy about the expectations she holds for her franchise cornerstone. Prior to the 2024 season, Reeve put it plainly on the team’s media day: “For Phee, the next step is to be the MVP.”  

MVP is a lofty goal for a coach to set for any player, but like the changing of the seasons, an MVP comes once a year, like a flower that blooms every spring. A 50/40/90 is closer to seeing Minnesota’s mascot, Prowl, riding into the Target Center on a unicorn. 

“It’s a goal that Cheryl gave me in the beginning of the year,” Collier confirmed when she took her place at the postgame podium after Minnesota’s final regular-season game on Thursday night. “It’s just like a sense of accomplishment. I’m a very goal-oriented person, so when I achieve those, it feels good. Cutting it close for the last game of the season, so yeah, it’s just like a sense of accomplishment.”

Collier downplaying the achievement as something one simply checks off their to-do list is consistent with the humility with which she’s addressed individual accolades over the past couple of seasons. 

It’s also no surprise that her partner at the podium on this night, Sixth Player of the Year candidate Natisha Hiedeman, arrived in the media room ready to trumpet her teammate’s achievement from the mountaintops. 

“Y’all know how Phee finished the season, right?!” Hiedeman beamed before even climbing the steps to the podium and before all of the cameras and recording devices in the room could even be turned on. 

“50/40/90! You know what’s going on! Just making sure you all knew.”

Hiedeman has been vocal all year about Collier’s MVP credentials. 

“Man, I love this girl. Just how she is as a leader, a teammate, everything, she deserves this.” Hiedeman said. “She works hard for this. I mean, she’s a G.O.A.T., like I said, without her, we’re not the Minnesota Lynx. So I’m just super happy that she was able to accomplish this, and I know that Phee works really hard for her goals. We’re just gonna set more goals now.”

Hiedeman then turned towards Collier with a smile and added, “I’m gonna give you some more.”

Collier’s name entered basketball immortality on Thursday night. In a week or so, she could win the first MVP award of her career. An award she’s referred to as a ‘team award’ since her name entered the consideration. An award that would be nice to have, so long as it comes with the other team award of much more significance. 

“I do think we’re a better team [than last year] just because we have that year of experience. Experience always makes better teams, better players, we know what it takes to get there,” Collier said. “We got there to the very last possible game of the season last year. We know what it takes, so I think that experience did make us better. It made us hungrier. Obviously, that’s something that we’re thinking about going into the playoffs this year is … it didn’t end the way that we wanted it to. To have a different outcome, you need to approach it differently.

“I think we’re super excited for the playoffs to start, to show everything that we’ve been working on the whole year, and there’s not a better group of people that I want to do it with. We’re sisters at this point. The closeness, we’ve talked about this for two years. I mean, the way that we go to work for each other, I’ve never been on a team like this, and so I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else.” 

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Per usual, Collier expressed more interest in the trophy that gets handed out only after someone wins the WNBA Finals. 

Her coach, however, who clearly laid out the goal of achieving something only one woman in this league’s history had ever done, also plainly laid out the parameters for consideration when voting for said league’s MVP. 

“It’s from start to finish,” Reeve said. “A 50/40/90 is historic. We don’t know how long it will be before it happens again. … Napheesa Collier has been the best player in the WNBA this season and deserves to be MVP.” 

Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The Next. The Next’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.