Q&A: Napheesa Collier on Unrivaled pushing personal brands, March Madness and more
Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier is all in on elevating those around her.
The four-time WNBA All-Star and 2024 Defensive Player of the Year has been on a multi-year journey with business partner and three-time WNBA Champ Breanna Stewart to develop a fresh lens for how people view basketball. Collier and Stewart created Unrivaled, a 3x3 basketball league focusing on fast-paced action while highlighting off-the-court stories, uplifting others and promoting personal brands.
Collier's vision for a league to help players stay stateside and utilize on-site facilities and training for further development is now a reality. For The Win recently caught up with the Lunar Owls forward as Unrivaled and Icy Hot presented the league's training staff with $10,000 bonus checks.
"Obviously, in a sports league, recovery and preparation for games is super important for us," Collier told For the Win. "So having a partner like Icy Hot is huge, where after the game, everything hurts ... Recovery is such a huge thing for us, and so that was like a really, I think, natural partnership and like happy one for us as well."
As Unrivaled's inaugural season winds down, For The Win sat down with Collier to discuss how she evaluates the league's first season, why she intentionally leaned into the personal brand of Unrivaled players, and who she has her eyes on heading into March Madness.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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.
What did it mean to have Stephen Curry join the Unrivaled investor list?
I think it's amazing, and I think it just shows the power and the momentum that women's sports has right now. It's just growing so rapidly, and so, obviously, having support from other athletes like Steph ... showing support to us and showing love and showing the value in what we have ― not only supporting but seeing that this has real monetary value ...
This is not a charity. It's not just, "Go women's sports." There's money to be made in this too, and I think that's honestly the most rewarding thing ... People aren't just supporting us because it's the right thing to do. They see that we have real value and that this is something that can be beneficial for everyone ...
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.
Fans call you "Queen Phee." What does that nickname mean to you?
Honestly, don't even know how it got started. It doesn't mean a lot ... It just sounds cool.
I think, like, the double "E's" look cool. Like, I love the little crown emojis. So, I think it's just a cool nickname, but I don't know how much I, like, read into it. I think it's just like, "it looks cool."
Will you and A'ja Wilson ever bring back your podcast, Tea with A & Phee?
I don't know. I honestly had so much fun on the podcast. I think it's hard now because we started it in the bubble when we were both in the same place. So, maybe if A'ja comes to Unrivaled, we'll be back in the same place, [and] it'll be easier again.
But with two separate schedules and the W season, and with all the different stuff we do off the court now, it's been kind of hard to coordinate schedules ...
March Madness is starting soon. Is there anyone you'll be watching?
I think Paige [Bueckers] is a big one, just like everyone, especially because she's coming out this year ― supposedly, hopefully ― and so she'll be really fun to watch, especially because she's a Husky. Of course, I'm going to root for the [UConn] Huskies. I think JuJu [Watkins], even though she's not coming out for several years now. She is just such a talent to watch.
But I think a lot of people are going to be watching the senior class because they're the ones that are in our immediate future. And it's so funny because you cannot predict how people are going to do in the W based on how they do in college. It's so different, but it's always fun to like speculate and watch and just see the talent that's coming up because I think that's just undeniable.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Napheesa Collier revealed why Unrivaled pushed WNBA personal brands
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