By John Ezekiel Hirro
Natasha Howard powered the Indiana Fever to a 74鈥59 victory over the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Commissioner鈥檚 Cup Final on Tuesday, finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists to earn MVP honors.The championship came with a $500,000 prize pool, plus a $120,000 crypto bonus from Coinbase, which included $5,000 in cryptocurrency for each player in the title game.Howard, named Most Valuable Player, received an additional $5,000 on top of her share. According to Yahoo! Sports, her total bonus for the tournament could reach 鈥渦p to $50,000.鈥滱n 11-year WNBA veteran, Natasha Howard has earned $1,243,700 across her career, per Spotrac. She鈥檚 currently playing under a one-year, $214,466 contract with the Fever following a four-year, $898,700 deal during her time with the New York Liberty and Dallas Wings.The Commissioner鈥檚 Cup also awarded charitable donations. The Fever selected Peace Learning Center as their beneficiary, earning them $23,000 鈥 $13,000 from seeding games and $10,000 for winning the final. The Lynx鈥檚 charity, ACLU Minnesota, will receive $21,000, which includes a $5,000 bonus for Minnesota’s runner-up finish.Indiana鈥檚 frontcourt played a key role in the win, with Aliyah Boston putting up 12 points and 11 rebounds. In the backcourt, Kelsey Mitchell and Aari McDonald each had 12 points, while Sophie Cunningham added 13 off the bench.Natasha Howard outshines MVP frontrunner Napheesa CollierNatasha Howard had the tall task of guarding MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier, who managed just 12 points on 6-of-18 shooting.Following the game, Howard credited the Fever鈥檚 collective effort for holding Collier, who had been averaging 24.4 points on 52.5% shooting prior to the matchup, in check.”I knew I had had a handful with Collier,” Howard said (per Reuters). “She’s a great player. My thing was just limit her to hard shots, and that’s what I did today. I made it uncomfortable for her, but at the end of day she was still going to get her buckets.”I couldn’t do it by myself. I had to have my teammates behind me helping me out, as well.”The Fever will next face the Las Vegas Aces, LA Sparks and Golden State Valkyries.