How the Phoenix Mercury reshaped to become WNBA contenders

But at the same time, a team’s front office can’t get stuck in the past — those heroes can’t play forever, meaning that a plan for success must be in place to ensure that a new legacy continues.

That’s why this past offseason for the Phoenix Mercury was so pivotal. Coming off of three straight losing seasons, it was time to move on from franchise cornerstones Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. 

“I think when [general manager] Nick [U’Ren] got the job, obviously the roster construction was a certain way,” head coach Nate Tibbetts said. “The hope was last year, to put a competitive team around DT [Diana Taurasi] in possibly her last year. I thought we did that.”

A complete roster overhaul was in store, time to decide between swinging for the fences or playing it safe with a rebuild. U’Ren and Tibbetts chose the bolder path — one that redefined what the Mercury could be, but with no guarantee that it would work out. 

In what ultimately became the largest trade in WNBA history, Phoenix exchanged pieces with three other teams, with the prized return being Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally. They joined Kahleah Copper, one of only two Mercury players returning from the 2024 season, to form a new “Big Three” — Thomas, a perennial MVP candidate; Sabally, a rising star, and Copper, a proven all-around spark plug.

It wasn’t the typical trade, however. Thomas and Sabally were both set to become unrestricted free agents, but received core designations from their previous teams. Although both the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings agreed to work out a trade with their respective stars, it still meant that they could ultimately choose where they wanted to go.

“No matter what team I was going to play on, for me it’s about that playoff standard,” Thomas said. “Coming here, I didn’t want to drop off and not make the playoffs. I knew we were capable of getting there.”

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“I knew it was the right bet to make,” Sabally added. “The players that are here already, that I knew were going to be here, I just loved watching them play, hated playing them. But the way that they recruited me, it was nothing about making promises, it was about what they could offer and how I could embrace that, and I knew I just wanted to have the right opportunity for my career to really propel.”

With these moves, the Mercury instantly improved on paper, but many were still skeptical of what the new-look team would actually look like on the court. Coming into the season, Phoenix was ranked just seventh out of 13 teams by ESPN, which established an underdog mentality the team wore on its sleeve all season long.

“I think we’ve probably had people that have been overlooked throughout their career,” Tibbetts said. “I think as a coach and as a team, you try to buy into certain things. This is our group, and we’ve been focused on us, while others have talked about other teams.”

Despite missing key players like Copper early in the season with injury, Phoenix outperformed its preseason expectations in emphatic fashion, turning in a 27-17 regular season and a trip to the WNBA Finals — taking down last season’s finalists New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx on the way.

Thomas and Sabally instantly became fan favorites as the faces of the post-Taurasi Mercury, with Thomas arguably having the best season of her already-accomplished career. She posted a WNBA-record eight regular season triple-doubles en route to First Team All-WNBA and All-Defensive selections. 

Meanwhile, Sabally paced the Mercury in scoring with 16.3 points per game. She was named an All-Star starter in her first season wearing purple and orange, and recorded six 20-point games during Phoenix’s 11-game playoff run.

“I mean, I was looking to add them too,” Copper joked when asked about U’Ren’s vision in acquiring Thomas and Sabally. “I think just wanting to go out and get experience, and then wanting to get great players. I think great players want to play with other great players. And the vision was to win now. Losing big pieces, the cornerstones of the organization, we didn’t want to be in a rebuild.”

Along the way, the Mercury got some help from an old friend. Veteran forward DeWanna Bonner, a staple of the franchise from 2009 to 2019, endured a rocky time with the Indiana Fever at the beginning of the season, ultimately reuniting with her fiancée Thomas and her old team after reaching an agreement to part ways with Indiana.

“Just coming back, the love that I needed at the time — I knew I was going to get it here,” Bonner said. “I knew exactly what I needed and exactly what I wanted, and I knew the fans and everyone. At that point in my career, I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is what I need to continue to love the game,’ and that’s what I got.”

Bonner’s contributions, especially in the playoffs, proved to be vital. For a new team that lacked postseason experience, Bonner set the poised tone that guided Phoenix through multiple massive comebacks. She came off the bench, but still averaged 26.1 minutes throughout the playoffs, hitting several clutch, late-game shots that oftentimes sent the X-Factor into a frenzy.

“Her experience and versatility was huge for us,” Tibbetts said of Bonner. “No moment is too big for her. She’s seen everything. I think she got more and more comfortable as the season went on. Just her ability to speak to the team and calm the team when we needed it was important.”

Phoenix’s dramatic postseason run may not have ended the way it wanted, being swept in the Finals in four games to the Las Vegas Aces, but just getting to that point so quickly was a major accomplishment. 

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“They did a great job together,” Tibbetts said. “I think the talent is there. Playing against a team like Vegas and their big three, just those minutes and experiences together means something, and all those games that they play together [in the] fourth quarters. Those are times that we’re going to continue to grow in that area.”

When Tibbetts was brought in, his arrival was met with curiosity, as he was a longtime NBA assistant stepping into his first role in women’s basketball. U’Ren’s decision to hire Tibbetts was a risk in itself, one that was made over an entire year before he again took the risk of bringing in Thomas and Sabally.

U’Ren’s trust in Tibbetts, and Tibbetts’ belief in U’Ren’s long-term plan, created an alignment that quickly filtered down to the locker room. Players could sense the shared purpose between leadership, a refreshing shift from the uncertainty that clouded previous seasons. That cohesion helped define the Mercury’s new culture, one built on transparency, mutual respect and a collective hunger to win.

“Him and I see the game, in a lot of ways, the same,” Tibbetts said of U’Ren. “And he’s the best guy. He just treats people with respect. He’s about the right stuff. He puts our players first. And so, I got to pinch myself sometimes, just because of the opportunity that Nick and Mat [Ishbia] and Josh [Bartelstein] gave me to come here, to take a chance, because not a lot of people thought it was a great hire.”

In his exit interview, U’Ren added, “I think the goal coming into this year was to have a good year, take a step forward, and I think we were able to do that. So whether it’s our own players or players across the league, I think and hope, we put ourselves in a position to want to play between the resources we have … One of the benefits of the Finals run is people got to kind of see what we’re all about.”

Even outside the organization, opponents have taken notice of what Phoenix is building; not just the talent on the floor, but the cohesion and clarity of purpose driving it. The culture U’Ren and Tibbetts established has earned respect across the league, including from one of the game’s most respected voices. Before Game 3 of the Finals, Aces coach Becky Hammon praised the Mercury’s revamped identity.

“Nick [U’Ren] and Nate [Tibbetts] did a really good job just going out and turning over some rocks and bringing in some people that they thought could fit their system, and they were right,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.

That sets the Mercury up in a great spot moving forward, but once again, nothing is guaranteed. Upcoming CBA negotiations are expected to be complicated, and nearly every single WNBA player will become a free agent. 

Thus, the next obstacle to Phoenix’s conquest becomes continuity. It’s expected that the Mercury’s core roster would want to remain with the team due to the success and resources provided for them, but these times are proving to be unpredictable.

If U’Ren and the front office can secure that continuity, they’d be in an advantageous position to again add. More weapons could be brought in around Thomas in an effort to finish the job that they just narrowly fell short in completing this season.

“When we put this team together, this is the hope, right?” Tibbetts said. “But you never know for sure, and we’re going to keep trying like we did last offseason. I’m sure [U’Ren’s] wheels are already turning about things that we can do to get better, and those are conversations that we’ll have here in the next couple months.”

In a season that started with uncertainty and risk, the Mercury carved out a new identity in real time. From the boardroom to the locker room, every gamble paid off with growth, trust and grit. The hardware may have eluded them this year, but the story of this new team is far from over.

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