Phoenix – The Phoenix Mercury will open its first season in 21 years without Diana Tauurasi. She is busy at home enjoying the first months of retirement.
There is also Brittney Griner for the first time since 2012. The game change center now has a dream uniform of Atlanta.
Two of the best players in his generation have gone, sending mercury to a new unknown era.
“I came here with many new faces, many hungry people,” Mercury’s new forward, Alyssa Thomas, said Wednesday during the team’s media day. “It will be fun to be part of an organization known for winning has multiple championships and, in general, it has been the upper part of this for a long time.”
El Mercurio had a good career with Tauurasi and Griner.
Taurasi opted his claim as One of the best players In the history of female basketball since the Mercury selected it with the general selection number 1 of the 2004 WNBA Draft. In the 20 years they followed, he accumulated six Olympic gold medals, three league championships and numerous records before Calling him a career Earlier this year.
The 9 -inch Griner was a force during its 11 -year -old stay in the desert, throwing overtions and shots like no other player while helping Mercury to win their most recent championship, in 2014. He chose to try the free agency and signed A one -year contract with the dreamhoping to prepare for A bigger contract When the new collective bargaining agreement of the League is in place next year.
Those are two large holes to fill, but the general manager Nick U’en already had the wheels in motion to begin the new era of the mercury.
Phoenix first Thomas acquired In an exchange with Connecticut, adding a veteran who is any striker who is the WNBA race leader with 15 triples elves. The 6-2 striker played his entire 11-year career with The Sun, taking them to the WNBA finals in 2019 and 2022, and won a gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games last summer.
With the retirement of the retirement of Tauuras, Phoenix achieved a three -way exchange that brought Sabally to the desert. The 6-4 striker was a first WNBA team in 2023, then averaged 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in a 2024 season limited to 15 games due to a shoulder injury.
“Pushing for uncomfortable times really makes us stronger and we are professionals to push adversity,” said Sabally. “I think I have gone through my life, but it really makes you appreciate more times like this.”
Completing the new Big Thre of Phoenix is Kahleah Copper, a scorer and dynamic leader.
Little 6-1 striker was three times all-Star with Chicago before being changed to Phoenix, where he had a massive impact in just one season.
Copper was the third leader of the WNBA with 21.1 points per game last season and became a leader in a team that already had two of the best players in the game. He also has a WNBA title to his credit, helping heaven to overcome mercury in the 2021 finals.
Now that Tauurai and Griner have left, Copper will totally take the reigns as the team leader, pushing the new and old teammates to continue the long story of winning from Mercury.
“I think you are really going to see his kind of dissemination of his wings and is proud,” said Mercury coach of second year, Nate Tibbetts. “You’ve seen it all this low season, adding free agents, and she has really bought what it is.”
The Mercury had no choice but to take a new direction with Tauurasi and Griner missing. They expect the new nucleus to lead the franchise in the same winning direction.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba
