WNBA: Phoenix Mercury still have work to do as playoff race intensifies

There’s still plenty of basketball left in the 2025 WNBA regular season (about four weeks), which is plenty of time for things to shake up in the standings. At the moment, just a game and a half separates the Atlanta Dream, who are currently in second place, and the Las Vegas Aces, who are in fifth, so these next few weeks will be critical for playoff-bound teams to make their final pushes for the postseason and get the best seeding possible.

The Phoenix Mercury are among these teams. Phoenix is currently 20-13 and in fourth place—just a few winning percentage points ahead of the Aces—and though the Mercury have hit a bit of a lull recently, going 5-5 in their last 10 games, they’re approaching a part of their schedule that they should be able to take advantage of.

Of the Mercury’s 12 remaining games, only one of them (Aug. 30 against the New York Liberty) is against a team currently ahead of Phoenix in the standings. Six are against teams that are below .500, including one game apiece against the Dallas Wings (9-26), Chicago Sky (8-25) and Connecticut Sun (6-27).

This is the WNBA, and there are no easy wins. But the Mercury’s upcoming schedule looks a lot more forgiving than their recent stretch of games, which included losses to the Dream and Aces and a narrow win over the Seattle Storm (17-18). Head coach Nate Tibbetts has acknowledged that his team “hasn’t finished the way [they] wanted” against stronger competition and that, even this late in the season, some things are still a work in progress.

One such issue, as Tibbetts alluded to, has been closing games. The Mercury’s late-game execution has been lacking against better teams. In their recent loss to Atlanta, the Mercury and Dream were tied with five minutes remaining in regulation, but Phoenix was outscored 16-8 the rest of the way. Similarly, against Las Vegas, the Mercury kept things within one or two possessions for most of the fourth quarter, but committed a costly turnover out of a timeout on their final possession, quite literally throwing the game away.

Ideally, the Mercury will have a larger margin for error in the coming weeks. The combined winning percentage of their remaining opponents is .448, which makes for the WNBA’s second-easiest strength of schedule, according to Tankathon.

As Phoenix tries to strengthen their playoff seeding, watch for potential changes in the team’s rotation. Tibbetts mentioned after the Mercury’s win over Seattle that they were “evolving” in how they have been using midseason acquisition DeWanna Bonner, while MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas has been tasked with even more defensive responsibility, occasionally defending opposing centers. This, in turn, has limited the playing time of Phoenix’s traditional bigs: Natasha Mack has played an average of 18.9 minutes in the Mercury’s last five games, while Kalani Brown has played 6.1 minutes in just two appearances.

Are these trends indicative of a long-term change, or will Tibbetts and his staff go a little deeper into their bench against weaker opponents? It’s possible that Phoenix will want to rest players like Thomas, Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper late in the season to reduce the risk of injury and ensure that they’re fresh for the playoffs, but if the Mercury want a top-four playoff seed, chances are they’ll be doing all they can to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat.