{"id":64577,"date":"2025-07-14T10:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T10:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/64577\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T10:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T10:06:09","slug":"whos-the-wnbas-biggest-trash-talker-top-athlete-players-dished-in-our-anonymous-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/64577\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s the WNBA\u2019s biggest trash-talker? Top athlete? Players dished in our anonymous poll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The WNBA talent pool is deeper than ever. The MVP race features two multi-time winners in A\u2019ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, a first-time favorite in Napheesa Collier, and several other stars like Alyssa Thomas gunning for the trophy. The last two draft classes have been overflowing with star power and record-breaking performers including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers.<\/p>\n<p>So how do WNBA players feel about the best of the best in their league? And what do they think about a host of issues facing the league, including expansion, salaries, and collective bargaining negotiations?<\/p>\n<p>To answer those questions, The Athletic\u2019s anonymous player poll is back. Our writers spoke with more than 40 players from the start of the 2025 season. All 13 teams are represented, but none of the 30 rookies on rosters are included as the survey attempted to gather veterans\u2019 perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>Players were granted anonymity to speak freely. They were also permitted to skip individual questions; as a result, each question shows the total number of responses for full transparency. Players were not allowed to vote for their team or teammates.<\/p>\n<p>Two years ago, this question came down to Stewart vs. Wilson. Now, a different UConn alum takes Stewart\u2019s place in the league\u2019s hierarchy, as Collier and Wilson were neck-and-neck for the top spot. Wilson is the league\u2019s reigning MVP, capturing her third trophy unanimously in 2024 as she set the WNBA\u2019s all-time scoring record, and in a relative down year, Wilson is still second in the WNBA in scoring and third in rebounding. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year ceded that crown to Collier last season, however, and Collier looks poised to take another in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>After leading the 2024 postseason in points, rebounds, blocks and steals, Collier is the league\u2019s top scorer (23.6 points per game) in 2025 and has led the Minnesota Lynx to the WNBA\u2019s best record of 18-4 at the halfway point, as well as the best offensive and defensive ratings.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart was the only other player to get multiple votes, and Allisha Gray and Alyssa Thomas would be the other early front-runners for the All-WNBA first team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Napheesa Collier, with 3,234 points, ranks 5th all-time in points scored in Lynx franchise history.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MVPhee?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">#MVPhee<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NQHj0sJslp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/NQHj0sJslp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Napheesa Collier Muse (@NapheesaMuse_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NapheesaMuse_\/status\/1944105213457227810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">July 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In their words<\/p>\n<p><strong>On Napheesa Collier:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love players who make the game look effortless, and her footwork is unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust how she\u2019s playing right now and how hard she is to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has had an incredible last couple years. She just hasn\u2019t quite gotten there. Last year she had an MVP season, but A\u2019ja had an insane season, and I think (Collier) is continuing to grow this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On A\u2019ja Wilson:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s to a point where we think what A\u2019ja is doing is normal. But it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s having another great season at an MVP-level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the retirement of Diana Taurasi, the runaway winner of this category two years ago, there was an opening for the league\u2019s preeminent trash talker. Fittingly enough, a member of the Phoenix Mercury filled the void.<\/p>\n<p>Like Taurasi, Thomas backs up her talk with performance. She is the league leader in assists (9.5 per game) and one of three players to post a triple-double in 2025. And when Thomas gets the better of an opponent, she\u2019ll let them know.<\/p>\n<p>Although Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have reputations for trash-talking, neither received more than a vote from their peers.<\/p>\n<p>In their words<\/p>\n<p><strong>On Alyssa Thomas:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe smiles and talks s\u2014, that\u2019s the crazy part, it\u2019s psycho stuff, she\u2019s crazy, man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone knows AT talks s\u2014-. I don\u2019t even guard her, and she talks s\u2014 to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe always has something, and she\u2019s always talking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On Marina Mabrey:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just feel like she&#8217;s always in WNBA scuffles or around them\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>\u2014 The Athletic&#8217;s Chantel Jennings contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson \/ The Athletic, Photos of Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier: Mark J. Rebilas \/ Imagn Images, Matt Krohn \/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA talent pool is deeper than ever. The MVP race features two multi-time winners in A\u2019ja Wilson&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":64578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1503,1497,2472,2470,2473,234,4144,1488,1519,1520,1502,1494,62,67,132,68,1514,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-64577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-atlanta-dream","9":"tag-chicago-sky","10":"tag-connecticut-sun","11":"tag-dallas-wings","12":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","13":"tag-indiana-fever","14":"tag-las-vegas-aces","15":"tag-los-angeles-sparks","16":"tag-minnesota-lynx","17":"tag-new-york-liberty","18":"tag-phoenix-mercury","19":"tag-seattle-storm","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-washington-mystics","25":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114851032895859097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}