Cheryl Reeve of Lynx is WNBA Coach and Executive of the Year; Napheesa Collier top defensive player

On the day they were honored, both Napheesa Collier and Cheryl Reeve took pains to credit others. Maybe that’s why the Lynx have been a team greater than the sum of its parts all season.

Collier, runner-up in MVP voting, was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year on Sunday morning, as well as making the league’s all-defensive first team for the first time. Reeve was named both Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year after leading the Lynx to a 30-10 record and the league’s second playoff seed.

It was Reeve’s fourth time being named Coach of the Year (2011, 2016 and 2020) — the most in league history — and her second time as Executive of the Year (2019). She is the second person to win both in the same season.

Lynx center Alanna Smith was named to the WNBA all-defense second team.

“It means a lot,” Collier said. “It’s a testament to how great our team is, honestly.”

Collier finished third in the league in rebounding (9.7), second in steals (1.9) and tied for sixth in blocks (1.4).

“It was a matter of having a great support system and then just doing whatever I can to help the team win,” Collier said.

At the award ceremonies before Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals against Connecticut at Target Center, also thanked assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson — a legendary post defender in her own right — for all the help.

“It’s our award,” Collier said.

Reeve, also the team’s president of basketball operations, coached the Lynx to a franchise record in victories while also coaching Team USA to Olympic gold in Paris. As the team’s personnel boss, she oversaw an aggressive offseason that included signing Courtney Williams and Smith as free agents and trading for Natisha Hiedeman. The Lynx also made a key trade deadline deal by bringing in Myisha Hines-Allen.

“One person will get credit,” Reeve said. “But everyone knows you have to have good people around you.”

To Reeve, that is true for both honors.

And that’s what she told the team. She thanked the players for buying in and for their belief in each other. She thanked associate head coach Katie Smith and assistants Brunson and Elaine Powell for preparing the team for its stretch run while Reeve was in Paris. She held back tears when thanking her family.

“It was their buy-in,” Reeve said of the players and coaches. “To have Katie and Rebekkah and EP back here, getting the group ready? To have Phee, Alanna and Bridget Carleton [who all played in the Olympics] coming back ready to play? I haven’t done anything. They’ve done it. This is them.”

As an executive, she credited her staff, including General Manager Clare Duwelius, for the way the team worked together building the team.

After trying and failing to land some big names — including Breanna Stewart — two years ago, the Lynx were aggressive last spring, courting Williams and Smith hard, acquiring Hiedeman, re-signing Carleton and bringing Cecilia Zandalasini back to the team. The Lynx built a team well-suited to what Collier does best.

“It says executive,” Reeve said of the award. “But it’s executives. We’re a good team.”

For Collier, this is another in a series of awards she has won since being named Rookie of the Year in 2019. For Smith — whose career trajectory is rising after having finished in the top five in most improved player voting in consecutive seasons — this is her first league award.

“Phee and Lan, their synergy was Day 1, the impact was there from Day 1,” Reeve said.

After practice Saturday, talking about the impact Collier and Smith have had on the defense, Kayla McBride called them a “two-headed snake.”

“We’re smaller than a lot of teams,” McBride said. “But Lan and Phee are willing to be selfless.”

Reeve made sure to thank Collier personally. None of what has happened with the team this season would have been possible without her. “Phee believed in us so much,” Reeve said. “I wanted so much to get Phee to this place.’’