2024 WNBA draft pick Celeste Taylor joins Grand Canyon staff

May 11, 2025; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Celeste Taylor (12) against the Golden State Valkyries during a preseason game at PHX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Celeste Taylor, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, is joining the coaching staff at Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 season.

Taylor played collegiately at Texas and then Duke, where Grand Canyon head coach Winston Gandy was an assistant on the staff. She was a defensive standout for the Blue Devils, named Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 among her accolades.

She played her final college season at Ohio State.

A 5-foot-11 guard, she was drafted in the second round by the Indiana Fever and also spent part of the season with the Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury. Her biggest contribution came in 15 games with the Mercury, where she averaged 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists over 20.1 minutes per game.

Taylor, who turns 24 this month, said she was grateful to Gandy for the opportunity.

“This is his first time as a head coach and it’s at a program like GCU that’s definitely up-and-coming and growing and a beautiful university, but I’m definitely grateful for him giving me the opportunity,” Taylor told ESPN. “He wants to put the best people around him, so for him to look to me and believe in me, to be able to help him is a blessing.”

Whether this is a long-term job remains to be seen. She is recovering from a foot injury she suffered playing over the winter in Australia and wants to return to the WNBA in 2026.

“There have been teams who wanted me to come back this season, and I think for me, it’s trying to get healthy and trying to maintain in the space of being fit and looking at what’s right for my body, listening to my body,” she told ESPN.

–Field Level Media