PHOENIX: The Phoenix Mercury had a forgettable 2023 WNBA season. Even with Brittney Griner making a spectacular comeback, the team battled to a 9-31 record and a last-place finish.

Following a 2–10 start, second-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard was fired by the Mercury on June 25. Throughout the season, concerns regarding Skylar Diggins-Smith and her detachment from the squad lingered. The culmination of it all came on July 10, when general manager Jim Pitman declared he would be leaving at the end of the season to allow the Mercury to rebuild.

Let’s welcome Nick U’Ren and Nate Tibbetts.

In their first summer with the Mercury, Tibbetts as head coach and U’Ren as general manager have already generated a lot of excitement. Together with Rebecca Allen, they added two superstar-caliber athletes in Natasha Cloud and Kahleah Copper.

U’Ren stated, “I think we were able to add multiple players that play make, defend, and have a ton of positional versatility.” It was my first time going through this, but it was amazing to be in the same room as some of these players and be able to communicate with them face-to-face and share our vision for how we want to conduct ourselves within this organization.

When Cloud made her decision live on ESPN’s WNBA free agency special on February 1, she was the first domino to fall. She played for the Washington Mystics for the first nine years of her career, winning a title in 2019 and being frequently selected to the WNBA All-Defensive Team.

Cloud’s stats increased year following year, with career highs of 12.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 2023. Additionally, she concluded her career with the third-highest average of assists per game (6.2).

“I felt like Phoenix was really intentional with me during this free agency,” Cloud remarked. It was great to be sought after in the same manner as Phoenix. That’s encouraging for a player, then.

The Mercury then shocked the league on February 6th when they dealt the Chicago Sky the third overall choice in the 2024 WNBA draft in exchange for 2021 Finals MVP Copper.

When Copper was selected to her third consecutive All-Star team in 2023, she averaged a career-high 18.7 points per game and helped lead the Sky to the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.

With the experience that we have, I firmly believe that this roster will contend for a championship, Copper stated. We all know what it takes to get to the big stage because of (Cloud) winning a championship, (Allen) participating in crucial playoff games, (Griner and Diana Taurasi) having that championship experience as well as myself.