The WNBA today announced that Lynx forward Napheesa Collier has been named to the All-Defensive First Team while Alanna Smith has earned All-Defensive Second Team honors. For Collier, the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, this is her first All-Defensive First Team selection, having been named to the Second Team twice (2020, 2023). This marks the first WNBA award of Smith’s career.
Collier and Smith led the league’s 2nd-ranked defense (94.8 Defensive Rating) while anchoring a team that finished first in opponents’ field goal percentage (41.0%), second in points allowed (75.6 per game), second in three-point field goals allowed (6.83 per game) and second in steals (8.57 per game). Overall,
Minnesota kept a WNBA-best 15 of 40 opponents below 40% from the field, going 14-1 in those contests.
Collier finished the season ranked second in the league in steals (1.91 per game), seventh in blocks (1.41 per game) and third in rebounds (9.7 per game), with all three averages representing career bests. Smith completed her first year in Minnesota by ranking fifth in the WNBA in blocks (a career-high 1.46 per game) and 14th in steals (a career-high 1.36 per game). Her 57 blocks are the 4th-highest single-season total in Lynx history.
(info courtesy of Lynx)
