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Brittney Griner entered the offseason as the second-longest tenured player with one team in the WNBA, having spent her entire career with the Phoenix Mercury since being drafted in 2013.
Now, for the first time, Griner will be donning a different WNBA jersey. The 34-year-old center is signing with the Atlanta Dream for the 2025 season, she announced on Instagram on Tuesday. The deal is for one year, according to a league source.
Griner brings a veteran presence to a promising young core in Atlanta, with two-time All-Stars Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray on the wings and two-time All-Defense point guard Jordin Canada in the backcourt. After being swept in the first round of the playoffs each of the last two seasons, the Dream are hoping to take a step forward. They brought in FGCU head coach Karl Smesko to modernize what was the worst offense in the WNBA in 2024 and now have a two-time scoring champion in Griner as their post presence.
Griner hinted at a possible exit from Phoenix when she said she would be taking meetings with other teams for the first time in free agency, and her departure seemed all but certain when the Mercury acquired Alyssa Thomas in a trade. Although Thomas and Griner were Olympic teammates, their full-time frontcourt partnership was tenuous given their spacing challenges.
Then again, Smesko thrived at the NCAA level by prioritizing layups and 3-pointers, and Griner has increasingly seen more of her shot distribution stray away from those zones. She attempted 62.1 percent of her field goals in between the restricted area and the 3-point line in 2024, a shot diet that will presumably have to evolve in Atlanta.
Griner’s choice of the Dream comes as something of a surprise since she is leaving an organization with a top-flight practice facility for one that doesn’t have its own space. Atlanta also plays in an arena that seats 3,500 people. The expectation entering free agency was that players would prioritize amenities in their decision-making, but Griner focused on the roster instead.
The Dream still have fourth-year power forward Naz Hillmon under contract, with veteran centers Tina Charles and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus up for new deals. Parker-Tyus didn’t seem to enjoy a bench role in Atlanta last season, and that is all that would be available with Griner’s addition. Griner and Charles were supposed to be teammates in Phoenix back in 2022 before Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia; Charles left the Mercury before Griner’s release, but perhaps the two could reunite now.
Even after signing Griner, the Dream have significant cap room to chase another max-level free agent. They could also trade their 2026 or 2027 first-rounder along with a young player to upgrade via trade. Satou Sabally would make perfect sense with this core if she is willing to sign off on going to Atlanta.
Griner filmed her announcement surrounded by Gray, Howard and Canada, all of whom are also playing in Unrivaled this offseason. It’s the first example, but likely not the last, of Miami being a useful WNBA free-agency hub.
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As she moves on to the Dream, Griner said she was excited for a “rebrand” and to show “something different” in the 12th year of her career. Perhaps her move will presage another change in Phoenix for the longest-tenured WNBA player, as all eyes turn to Diana Taurasi and her potential retirement. For now, the Mercury have parted ways with at least one franchise icon, but the offseason is young.
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(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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