Q&A: Napheesa Collier on Unrivaled pushing personal brands, March Madness and more

Did Unrivaled's first season accomplish everything you and Breanna Stewart hoped it would?

I think yes. Just from off-court stuff, I think we have surpassed a lot of our goals ... We were able to raise more money than we initially thought, so we were able to pay players more even in Year One, which is amazing. Just the momentum that the league has been able to garner so far, where I feel like we're really culturally relevant and elevating players' brands where that was one of our huge goals ...

We make most of our money off the court, and so brand-building is essential for us and highlighting people's personalities. I think Jackie Young is a great example where we highlighted her brand by her not wanting to have a brand. Like, she hates doing media. So they would have videos of her running away and, like, those went viral. So, I think being really authentic to people's personality, the Unrivaled staff and the marketing team was really able to capitalize on that, which I thought was amazing.

As far as on court, I think you see a notable difference in a lot of players from even the beginning of Unrivaled to now at the end of the season. You know, we're here to get better at the end of the day. So through all these things, I think you see people's skillsets getting a lot a lot better ― their confidence on the floor and the moves that they're doing, things that they weren't doing even just last season.

And so because of those things, I think this is a success. I think we set out what we plan to do in Year One and we want to go up from here.

Why was it important to also give back to the Unrivaled training staff?

They're the people that make our recovery possible. They make it so that we feel good going on the court, that we feel good after games and our recovery is going smoothly and things like that. And they just work so, so hard.

So, I think being able to thank them for that ― it's a pretty thankless job being an athletic trainer and so being able to say thank you in a small way to them is really important ... I'm really happy Icy Hot was able to partner with us and being able to give them that bonus.

Who is the Lunar Owls' unsung hero this season?

I think, honestly, it's really cool because I think every single personality on this team is so different, and I feel like we all bring something really unique. I think one person that should be highlighted is Courtney [Williams] because she's not a starter, but her voice is so important to the team.

Because obviously, like, Skylar [Diggins-Smith] is our point guard ... Her voice is incredibly important to our team, and she's a main leader here. But Courtney's voice is ― she's also a point guard. The way that she keeps us together even when she's not playing, the input that she has ... She's able to energize us internally, and the feedback that she gives us to what she's seeing is really important to that, and that part's not always highlighted.

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