Charli Collier (born September 22, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the UC Capitals of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL). She was a First-Team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

selection in 2020 for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

. She earned a bronze medal while playing for the United States in the

2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women The 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women (Spanish:Campeonato Mundial FIBA Sub-17 Femenino 2016) was an international basketball competition that was held in Zaragoza, Spain from 22 June 22 to 2 July 2016. It was the fourth edition of th ...

. She was drafted by the

Dallas Wings The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group ...

as the first overall pick of the 2021 WNBA Draft. She was waived by the Wings after her second season in the WNBA after seeing limited playing time and averaging less than 3 points per game.

High school career

Collier was a four-year letter winner for

Barbers Hill High School Barbers Hill High School is a school based in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and is classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is part of the Barbers Hill Independent School District located in western Chambers County. For the 2021-2022 school year, the s ...

in the greater

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

area. She was ranked the nation's top player in the Class of 2018 according to Prospects Nation and the Blue Star Report, and the No. 2 Player by espnW Hoop Gurlz. Collier was a 2018 McDonald's All-American, a Jordan Brand Classic participant and the 2017–18 Gatorade State Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She was a USA Today All-USA Texas Girls Basketball First-Team Selection in 2018 and was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy High School Player of the Year Award. Collier finished her prep career with 3,539 points and 1,406 rebounds. As a freshman in 2014–15, she averaged 17.3 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game and 1.7 blocks per game to help her team to a 28–4 record and a Region 5A semifinals appearance. As a sophomore in 2015–16, Collier averaged 24.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game and 2.3 blocks per game to help Barbers Hill to a 27–8 record and an appearance in the Region 5A semifinals. She was named the 2016 UIL District 21-5A Offensive MVP and was an All-District selection. As a junior in 2016–17, she helped Barbers hill to a 34–5 record, including an 18–0 record in District 21-5A, as her squad advanced to the Texas Class 5A state semifinals. She averaged 23.8 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game and 3.0 blocks per game. Collier was named to the 2017 UIL Class 5A State All-Tournament Team and was a nominee for the Gatorade Player of the Year Award. As a senior in 2017–18, Collier averaged 30.9 points per game, 11.5 rebounds per game, 2.3 steals per game, 2.2 blocks per game and 2.0 assists per game in leading her team to a 38–3 record and an appearance in the Class 5A, Region 3 tournament semifinals.

College career

Collier played college basketball for the

. As a freshman in 2018–19, Collier played in 31 games with one start, averaging 14.4 minutes per game. She averaged 4.9 points per game, Collier scored in double figures on eight occasions during the year and led the Longhorns with 20 blocks. Collier didn't see the playing time or success in her freshman season that she had hoped, and struggled adjusting to the timing and physicality of the collegiate game. Instead of looking to transfer, Collier turned inward and focused on improving. Through that experience, Collier has transformed herself into one of the nation's top players. Collier had a breakout game in her team's win against No. 1 Stanford on December 22, 2019. She brought down a career-high 19 rebounds and scored a game-high 20 points in 37 minutes of play. The 19 rebounds were the eighth-most in a single game in program history. For her efforts, Collier earned espnW and USBWA National Player of the Week honors. Collier turned in one of the best sophomore seasons in program history, ranking third in rebounds (314) and eighth in blocks (39) among Texas sophomores all-time. In her junior season, Collier was the only NCAA Division I player to average at least 20.0 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game. She has increased her points per game average by more than eight points from her sophomore to her junior season. Collier has recorded 20 or more points on 16 occasions as a junior, including a career-high 44 points against North Texas on November 29, 2020, marking the most by a Texas player since 1994. Collier had a breakout sophomore season in 2019–20, earning First-Team All-Big 12 Conference accolades. She started all 30 games at the center position for the Longhorns, playing 29.8 minutes per game. Collier was tied for the team lead in scoring (13.1 points per game) and led the Longhorns in rebounding (10.5 rebounds per game). She ranked 20th nationally in rebounds per game (10.5) and 23rd in total rebounds (314). Collier was one of only six players in the Big 12 Conference that season to average a double-double on the year. She ranked 16th nationally in double-doubles with 16 and she was one of only four players in program history to average a points-rebounds double-double for a single season. Collier was one of five finalists for the 2021

Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is formerly the head coach for Triplets (basketball), Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando ...

Award, which recognizes the top center in women's college basketball. She was also a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy and was one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award.

Professional career

Collier was selected by the

as the first overall pick in the 2021 WNBA draft. The Wings had both the first and second overall picks that year after a trade with the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

; Dallas selected

Awak Kuier Awak Sabit Bior Kuier (born 19 August 2001) is a Finnish professional basketball player who competes for Galatasaray in the Turkish Women's Basketball Super League and in the EuroCup Women, and for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketb ...

immediately after Collier. Collier played in 28 out of 32 games for the Wings in her rookie season, starting 18 of them. Collier averaged 3.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game; the Wings finished 14-18 and did not make the playoffs. She was named to the 2021 WNBA Rookie team after the conclusion of the season. In her second season, Collier's production significantly dropped, as she played only 17 games exclusively off the bench, and averaged only 2.0 points and 0.6 rebounds per game. She was waived by the Wings in May 2023 along with 2019 first-round pick Kalani Brown. After being released by the Wings, Collier played for professional teams in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

between 2021 and 2023. In September 2024, she signed with the UC Capitals of the WNBL in Australia.

National team career

Collier was a member of the United States U-17 Women's National Team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 World Championships. She also participated in the 2017 USA U19 World Cup Team Trials and the 2015 USA U16 National Team Trials. She also represented the United States in the inaugural FIBA 3x3 Women's Series in the summer of 2019.

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 28 , , 18 , , 12.3 , , .465 , , .000 , , .696 , , 3.6 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 17 , , 0 , , 4.6 , , .444 , , .000 , , .714 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.6 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 45 , , 18 , , 9.4 , , .460 , , .000 , , .703 , , 2.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.5 , , 2.9

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, 31, , 1, , 14.3, , 41.8, , 29.4, , 80.0, , 4.3, , 0.2, , 0.4, , 0.6, , 1.7, , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30, , 30, , 29.7, , 43.2, , 35.4, , 77.1, , 10.5, , 0.5, , 0.6, , 1.3, , 2.1, , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 31, , 31, , 32.6, , 51.1, , 31.3, , 80.1, , 11.3, , 0.4, , 0.7, , 1.2, , 2.7, , 19.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 92, , 62, , 25.5, , 46.6, , 33.3, , 79.3, , 8.7, , 0.4, , 0.6, , 1.1, , 2.2, , 12.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Personal life

Collier is the daughter of Ponda and the late Elliott Collier. She has a brother, Casey, who plays football for the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. Her mother played basketball at Southwestern University and her father played basketball at Eastern Montana College. Collier is interested in pursuing a career in sports broadcasting following her playing career. Collier has hosted her own online show in preparation for her future career, and has interviewed high-profile guests like

Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...

of the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. Growing up, Collier's family was friends with Retha Swindell, the University of Texas' all-time career rebounds leader and the first African-American woman to play basketball for the Longhorns. Collier interviewed Swindell for

Longhorn Network Longhorn Network (LHN) was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between The University of Texas at Austin, ESPN and Learfield (formerly IMG College), and was operated by ESPN (itself owned jointly by The Walt Disney Compa ...

during the 2020 season to discuss their common bond.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Charli 1999 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Texas Centers (basketball) Dallas Wings draft picks Dallas Wings players McDonald's High School All-Americans People from Chambers County, Texas People from Liberty County, Texas Power forwards Sportspeople from the Houston metropolitan area Texas Longhorns women's basketball players First overall WNBA draft picks 21st-century American sportswomen