To honor the freshly minted MVP and his magical title run, we’ve put the irrepressible offensive force front and center on SLAM’s annual champs issue – cop it at the SLAM Store today.

While the significance of Gilgeous-Alexander’s season from an individual standpoint (he’s the first player to claim MVP, Finals MVP, Conference Finals MVP and the scoring title in the same season) is no secret, credit belongs equally to the historically dominant team behind him.

The 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder where a stubbornly merciless defensive juggernaut that moonlit as a Top 3 offense, an unrelenting swarm of switchable length and suffocating grit that fed on the souls of opposing offenses when not racking up a 119.2 offensive rating of their own.

Now they’re NBA champions with the youngest NBA Finals squad in nearly 50 years and fascinatingly deep war chest of draft capital that could keep them in position to be back here year in and year out.

But this isn’t about Oklahoma City’s hypothetical stranglehold on the future, this is about the very tangible, confetti-filled present.

Celebrate the moment with all-new champs cover merchandise, the yearly tradition print magazine and special serial-numbered versions of the mag at the SLAM Store while supplies last.

View the Oklahoma City Thunder Champs Issue Collection now.

The post Big Rings: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Graces Champs Issue appeared first on SLAM.

“I’m like a new mother, just trying to figure out life,” Collier says, thinking back to her mindset on that day. “I feel way more sure in myself and like motherhood [now],” she says. “I’m back to playing, so that feels really good. Being around my teammates again. I just feel way more grounded in my life. That time was so uncertain. Everything was brand new.”

Today, on set with Collier—better known in these parts as Queen Phee—you can see a change. She’s now a two-time Olympic Gold medalist, a WNBA finalist, the co-founder of Unrivaled, the unmistakable leader of her team and now a captain for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game. As we went to press, Collier was averaging a League-leading 24.5 ppg along with 8.4 rpg and 3.8 apg for the League-leading Lynx. 

Three years have flown by, but one thing remains the same: Collier is still a superwoman.

SLAM: You were the first Western Conference Player of the Month this season. What has changed for you from last year to this year?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: You know, last year felt like it was a happy accident. Every year you try your best, of course, but we happened to have the best team chemistry-wise and then we also happened to be really good basketball players. And to have both of those things—it sounds small, but it’s really rare when you love all of your teammates and you guys are good at basketball at the same time. So we kind of fell into that last year. And so now we know what it can be. I think just making sure that we don’t lose that opportunity. This year, that’s what it feels like—we want to make the best of it and make the most of this year.

SLAM: You’ve played under Coach Cheryl Reeve your whole professional career. What is it about her coaching style that has pushed you to grow?

NC: I think Cheryl does a really great job of putting people in places to be successful. She brings out the best in you as a player, and she knows where you’re going to fit well into the team and how to get that out of you. So she’s really taught me, like, how to take advantage of the things you’re really good at, and obviously work at the things you need to. She kind of makes you look at the game a little bit more technically, and I think that makes you a better player.

SLAM: There are so many great former Lynx players. Which veterans have had the biggest impact on you?

NC: That’s so hard because we have two [Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen] on the coaching staff. But I mean, Mama Syl [Sylvia Fowles] is definitely one of my favorites. I played with her for four years. She’s just, like, the best person you ever want to meet. So I have to say she’s definitely one of my favorites.

SLAM: Can you give us a story during the time you played together?

NC: Syl was the first person that welcomed me when I came to the Lynx, the very first day of training camp, which—she’s, like, a Hall of Fame player, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year. She’s like, What’s up baby? If you ever need anything, you come to me, and she just, like, got me in a huge bear hug. I was squished on her. And that’s just who she is. So that was awesome to have her as my vet coming into the League, and now still she texts me after every game day. You know, Good job, or Good luck, or whatever it is. She’s awesome.

SLAM: You’re in this period of your career where you’re not yet a vet…

NC: Thank you for saying that.

SLAM: Over the last few years, you’ve seen the League grow, but you’ve also grown yourself as a player. How has that transition been?

NC: Yeah, I think it’s just more responsibility for the younger people on your team. I talked earlier about how Syl made me feel as a rookie, so inviting. And now it’s my job to do that for the younger people. You see what that responsibility is. This is my seventh season. I still feel young on the inside, but now I have to realize that it’s my job to take care of the younger ones. So having that transition was a little bit harder a couple years ago when it started.

SLAM: Looking back, can you think of a moment in your career that felt small at the time but ended up changing everything?

NC: Getting drafted to Minnesota, because you have no control over where you get drafted. And you always think, Wherever I go, you’re gonna make the best of it. But I’m so lucky to have gotten drafted here, and it’s changed the trajectory of my entire career. So it might have seemed small at the time—like, obviously not small in the sense that you’re getting drafted and it’s so exciting, but you have no control and you’re gonna go wherever you go. You have to go there. But I’m so lucky that it happened that way. And when I got drafted here, that definitely changed my life. 

SLAM: If we were to take all the titles and accolades away, how would you describe yourself at your core?

NC: I feel like mother is a huge one—mother and wife. I am so family centered. I take a lot of pride in those areas. I’m a family person. At my core, I love just decompressing, being around my family. I would much rather have a night and play games with my family than be out anywhere else. 

SLAM: What does a perfect off-day look like?

NC: A perfect off-day for me—it depends on if it’s a weekend or a school day, or Mila, if it’s a school day, you know, she’s at school for a little bit so I get some time to relax. I’ll probably—this is going to sound boring—but get errands done. Getting that done for me is fun now, so I don’t know, buying stuff for my house, or taking a nap is awesome, binging some shows, just doing, like, lazy stuff is the perfect day.

SLAM: What drives you now that maybe didn’t drive you early on in your career? 

NC: Definitely my family, my daughter. It just puts so many things into perspective. Like I said before, basketball has never been the most important thing in my life, but it was the biggest thing for a really long time. And so now there are just so many more things that are so much more important to me. And it really grounds you, it makes you see that it’s not so important. Like, we’re playing a game at the end of the day, and playing the game is really important, but my family is the number one always. So whether I have a good day or a bad day, Mila at the end of the day, she’s like, “Mama!” [and] runs into your arms. It just makes everything better. So my why has definitely changed in that way.

SLAM: How do you manage the chaos of everything that the season brings? 

NC: I don’t feel like I take work home with me. I’ve never been one that was obsessed with basketball. I really like to do other things in my life. And so definitely, I love napping. I have always loved napping. So napping is number one when I have time, but, also, like starting shows or watching movies, doing things away from basketball, really kind of fills my cup back up so I can give my all when I am playing.

SLAM: You won your second Olympic God medal last summer with Team USA. Does it feel like the Olympics were just yesterday or actually almost a year ago?

NC: Honestly, both. Because when I think about it, that it’s been almost a year, it’s crazy—so much has happened in between then [and now]. Also, it’s so vivid in my mind that it feels like it could be yesterday. But then I think, after that we went to the WNBA Finals, we launched Unrivaled—I’ve done all these things since then. So it’s kind of like that at the same time. It feels far away and like it just happened.

SLAM: The landscape of women’s basketball has been constantly growing and evolving. When you think back to your rookie season, did you ever imagine this would be the reality?

NC: No, honestly. I mean, it’s crazy, because usually change happens so slowly, you can’t really track it. Like, it happens little by little, and all of a sudden you look at where you are and it’s different. This change has happened so fast. You can track year by year how different it is. So it’s amazing to be a part of. I didn’t know if this would happen [during] my career, so to see it happen so quickly, it’s so fun to be a part of.

SLAM: Your involvement in the growth has not gone unnoticed, with the creation of a new community in Unrivaled. As a player, trailblazer and leader within the league, how would you describe this time in women’s basketball?

NC: I think it’s just like such a time of empowerment, honestly, like we hold the most cards we’ve ever held, the most power that we’ve ever held as women athletes. Just the way that people view women’s sports, the accessibility to us is more than it’s ever been, the availability, the way that you’re able to see us on TV more than ever. Like, we still want to make a lot of changes in that area, but it’s better than it’s ever been, and you can see the growth that’s happening because of that. And so, yeah, I just feel like we’re in a time where you can see the cards, like, changing hands almost, or the power the players clearly have the most power. And it’s obviously, as a player, a really fun time to be a part of women’s sports.

SLAM: Building the League one brick at a time, you’ve always stressed the importance of the W being a space to play and to invest. Now seeing the business side, what are some lessons you’ve picked up? 

NC: I think you see what happens when you invest in women’s sports—like, when you pay the players accordingly, when you give them a chance to be owners in a league. I think it’s incredible. Just the buy-in that you get from the players, how well it’s received by the fans. You also get a little bit where the League side comes from. Obviously as players, we want to ask for the most amount of money. And you see the business side where you have X expenses. What I do think is there are areas where we could push the boundaries some more.

SLAM: If someone 10 years from now says, “Napheesa changed the League,” what do you hope they mean?

NC: I hope by “change the league” they mean definitely through Unrivaled. I hope Unrivaled is thriving in that way, and because of that, it’s pushed the envelope in all of women’s sports [and] we’re changing what it means to pay and treat women’s athletes. So I hope that we are trailblazers in that way—that is the goal of what Unrivaled is. 

There’s still a lot I want to accomplish as a player, too. So I hope I change the League in that way. I want to win championships, I want to win different things, so in both of those areas, I hope I leave a mark.

Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.

The post Minnesota Lynx Superstar Napheesa Collier on Leading the Lynx to the Top of the League and Evolution of the Women’s Game appeared first on SLAM.

Sure, every prospect who’s reached this point has had to sacrifice something to get here. But Egor’s sacrifice was just…different. Not in the abstract sense, but in the deeply personal kind—the kind that asks a teenager to leave home at 15, cross continents, learn two new languages and carry the weight of not just his own ambition, but his family’s dreams. That kind of sacrifice.

We’re a few days out from the NBA draft, and Egor is on the cusp of hearing his name called, walking across the stage and shaking Adam Silver’s hand. The 19-year-old, 6-9 point guard—yes, point guard—has the vision of a veteran optometrist and the feel for the game of a seasoned pro. But none of that means much unless you understand what it took to get here.

You have to start in Russia.

Egor was born into basketball. His father had a long professional career and represented Russia on the national team. And his mother, who played until she was 18, was the first person to put the battery in his back.

“For me, it was just like, Well, that’s fun, because all my family was doing it,” Demin tells SLAM. “But then I had the moment where I heard my mom saying, Hey, if you really like it, then respect it. Put effort in this. And if you really want to play basketball, then try to be the best in it. And this is the moment when I kind of started to take it serious.”

But while kids stateside grow up with the NBA stitched into their imagination, Egor grew up a world away, where that dream felt distant, if not impossible.

“Growing up in Russia, it was always a dream, and it was always in my head,” he recalls. “But it always felt unreal, because it’s really far, and not many Russian players were in the NBA. It was always a feeling of, Well, how’s it even gonna happen?”

So rather than chase a dream that felt so out of reach, he focused on improvement. Relentlessly. By 15, it became clear he wasn’t just another tall kid with a nice handle. His gifts were unordinary for a kid his age, a kid his size. The way he processed the game. The way he saw space. The purpose he played with.

And with that clarity came a new choice: stay in Russia and hit the ceiling or leave everything behind in pursuit of something greater.

Egor moved to Spain to join Real Madrid’s famed youth system. His parents stayed behind.

Imagine that. You’re a teenager. You live in a new country. You barely speak the language. Your parents—your comfort, your counsel—are more than four thousand miles away.

“It was really hard to move to a different country and spend three years in Spain, really far away from my family and they couldn’t really come visit me. This was the hardest stage of my path,” he says. “When something was frustrating, or if I was sad, I couldn’t just call my parents, because they’d just freak out. So I’m thinking about how I could take care of my mental health, but I also gotta take care of my parents’ mental health.”

But he did it. And in doing so, he learned what it meant to be a pro. Soon enough, the dream no longer felt far-fetched. It felt tangible. And more than that, it felt earned. Now, it was time to take it to yet another level.

Egor could’ve taken the traditional NCAA route. Blue bloods lined up. He fielded offers from the likes of Duke, UConn and more. But like he’s done his entire basketball life, he took the path less traveled. He committed to Coach Kevin Young and Brigham Young University, becoming the Cougars’ then highest-rated recruit in program history.

Some asked, why BYU? The answer was simple: NBA pedigree.

“Who can prepare me better than an NBA coach?” Egor says. “Besides [Young], they had an NBA strength and conditioning coach. They had a nutritionist from the NBA. We had a mental coach from the NBA. Everybody’s like, Provo, Utah, is so boring. I’m like, You play basketball there, man!”

In Provo, he was everywhere. Guarding multiple positions. Running the break. Dishing with touch. Setting screens. Reading rotations. He became BYU’s connective tissue. And through it all, his game spoke louder than he did.

He sees the pass before you see the lane. He anticipates plays before they happen. His frame—long and fluid—lets him make plays few guards can. His basketball IQ exceeds his age, and his character might rate even higher than his game. That might be the most impressive part.

This isn’t a kid who’s been handed anything. He doesn’t see himself as a final product. He sees himself as a piece that can fit in any puzzle. A weapon that can be sharpened. A player who can make an impact now while evolving into something even greater.

His potential is untapped, but he’s eager to make an instant contribution to any organization that takes a bet on him. As for what that contribution may be? He doesn’t care.

“I just want to be helpful. Whatever it takes,” he says. “I want to bring my versatility to any team that takes me, and that’s why I believe I can be a good fit for any team.

“I’m not just a point guard, I’m a playmaker,” Egor continues. “I told every team I was meeting with [during the pre-draft process], Hey, I can be whatever you want me to be. I want to learn.”

Egor envisions himself being one of the strongest, most complete guards in the League someday. He envisions himself being one of the best defenders in the League. He wants to dominate in every aspect of the game. And he’s building the foundation brick by brick.

“I’m not running away from anything. I’m not trying to hide my weaknesses. I know it’s going to be hard anywhere I go,” he says. “I’m ready for the worst, but I’m expecting the best.”

His voice never wavers. You can tell he’s said this to himself in the mirror. During tough nights in Spain. During quiet days in Utah. During the moments no one sees. He isn’t playing for applause. He’s playing for meaning.

Every conversation with Egor eventually comes back to his family. His father, whose dreams stopped short. His mother, who first planted the seed of seriousness. The weight of their faith propels him to stay the course.

“I just talked to my dad a couple of days ago, and he was talking about how crazy life is,” Egor shares, “for bringing his kid dream to life through his kid.

“For me, it’s hard to really understand how big it is for him, because I don’t have kids yet. But I see myself in the future as a really proud father. My parents were living this whole process through me, and it was probably even harder for them than it was for me.”

The draft is days away. There will be cameras. A fresh suit. Green room nerves. And millions of new eyeballs on him. But Egor will walk in with the same mindset that took him across an ocean: gratitude.

“I have a lot of good people surrounding me. The opportunities that I’m getting are a blessing. It’s nothing but gratitude from my part,” he says. “Everything around me is taken care of, thanks to all these people around me. Now I just have to grind. I just gotta give my best to the game.”

There’s something riveting about the long road. The scenic route. The inconvenient path. It reveals more. Demands more. Shapes more.

Egor didn’t come up through viral mixtapes. He wasn’t raised in the AAU circuit. His journey—from Russia to Spain to Utah to the NBA—is the epitome of a tireless pursuit of excellence. And when his name is called on draft night, he won’t act surprised. He won’t act entitled. He’ll simply get ready.

To train. To adapt. To lead. To prove, over and over, that he belongs. He’s not a dreamer anymore. He’s the dream realized.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post BYU’s Egor Demin Breaks Down His Journey From Russia to the NBA appeared first on SLAM.