“We’re doing boho, of course. I want to get a little curl in there.”
It’s days before the start of WNBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, and Napheesa Collier is getting her hair braided on the other side of the Zoom screen—while also speaking to Vogue and tending to her 3-year-old daughter, Mila, who is audibly requesting her attention. The impressive juggling act is par for the course for Collier, who in addition to being a wife, mother, and star forward on the Minnesota Lynx, is vice president of the WNBA Players Association and cofounder the Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league with her former UConn teammate Breanna Stewart. All-Star Weekend is another engagement on her busy schedule, though one she looks forward to.
“It’s something that I still appreciate every year,” says Collier, who has been selected for the All-Star game five times, and got word that she was named a 2025 captain while in the Lynx locker room. (Mila delivered the news via scooter, wearing shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Mama you’re a All-Star”) “It’s always fun to be recognized in that way and especially with my teammates there,” Collier continues. “I definitely wouldn’t be here without them.”
It was past and present teammates—as well as UConn alums—that Collier favored during the draft that saw her and fellow captain-slash-Indiana-Fever-star Caitlin Clark build their All-Star teams. Former UConn standouts Stewart and Paige Bueckers were selected for Team Collier, as were Collier’s Unrivaled teammates Skylar Diggins-Smith and Allisha Gray, and her Lynx teammate Courtney Williams. “That was really fun,” says Collier.
Though winning was very much on the brain as Collier prepped to face Team Clark, with a whirl of events on her calendar, she gave ample thought to fashion, too. “Last year was the first year that I started working with a stylist, and we were experimenting a lot—trying different looks, trying to find what my style is,” Collier says. “This year I feel like I’ve grown into it a little bit more. I really like elevating more classic looks and making those into my own. I like a little bit of an edgier look [and] I definitely like darker colors.”
The custom and curated pieces Collier was packing for Indianapolis when we spoke are a far cry from what she brought to her first All-Star Weekend in 2019. “I just went to Express the day before,” she says. “Now, of course, it’s so different. Fashion is so huge in the league; it’s really fun to see that part grow.” Also fun? Watching the fandom of women’s basketball reach an all-time high. “Obviously Caitlin is a huge part of that, so having [WNBA All-Star Weekend] in Indiana, I think it’s going to be a huge turn out.”
She was correct.
Ahead, a behind-the-scenes look at Napheesa Collier’s 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend.