PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, putting them in a territory they did not expect to be in coming into the season.
On the heels of an appearance in the 2025 WNBA Finals, and returning six key players from that year’s team, the belief within the organization was that making the playoffs would be the bare minimum — with another deep run being the expectation.
But instead, Phoenix is out of it with just under an entire month remaining in the regular season. Currently with a 13-25 record, the Mercury were 24-14 at this point of the season a year ago. That’s left a veteran-led team that’s used to being in contention with questions in need of answers for, and new goals to find.
“Something I haven’t experienced probably since my first couple years in the league,” Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas said following a loss to the Atlanta Dream on an Aug. 22, which knocked them out of the playoffs. “Yeah, it’s definitely disappointing. Definitely not what we anticipated for the season, but there’s still games to be played.
“Hard to say what the goal is, but I think it’s just about continuing to build, play our brand of basketball. [Win or lose,] we still got to go out there and give everything we have.”
The games that are left to be played provide a silver lining for the Mercury, as every day of work from here on out provides them a chance to prepare for what the future could look like — in a low-stakes environment where players and head coach Nate Tibbetts can experiment, evaluate and begin laying the groundwork for next season.
Here are some of the most important goals they can accomplish along the way:
Convince Kelsey Plum to stay
Phoenix’s trade deadline acquisition of guard Kelsey Plum adds another wrinkle to the newfound circumstances the team finds itself in. An impending free agent, persuading Plum to remain in Phoenix long-term is vital, as general manager Nick U’Ren made a huge gamble by trading away what will be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft in order to acquire Plum.
Getting a head start in familiarizing Plum with the team’s culture and system was one of the key reasons given for making that gamble, but that process has been hindered a bit, as a lingering calf injury has limited Plum to appearing in just five games since the trade. The Mercury went 1-4 in those games.
However, Plum’s health appears to be trending in the right direction after coming off the injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Washington Mystics. With potentially six games left to play with the Mercury, as well as the opportunity to play alongside teammate Kahleah Copper and coach Tibbetts with Team USA in September’s FIBA World Cup, there’s still plenty of time to establish some trust between Plum and the Mercury.
“For me, I’m approaching this like a seven-game season — trying to take it a day at a time,” Plum said at shootaround before Tuesday’s game. “Obviously tonight, first time back on the court in a couple weeks, and just trying to build chemistry with the entire team and the staff. Obviously we have the World Cup coming up as well, so I get to play with Kah there, which I’m very excited about.”
Perhaps the biggest pitch in convincing Plum to stay came on one of the nights in which she didn’t play: Diana Taurasi’s Ring of Honor ceremony on Aug. 16. It was a masterfully executed night by the organization that created a surreal aura that could only be felt if you were physically in the building that Aug. 16 night.
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Plum was there, which wouldn’t have been the case if Phoenix hadn’t traded for her, and Taurasi happened to be the player that she grew up idolizing the most. Taurasi, seemingly knowing such, acted as Phoenix’s spokesperson by acknowledging Plum during her speech, leading to one of the loudest and longest applauses of the night:
“I don’t think you know how much you mean to me,” Taurasi said while thanking her former teammates. “When I see [DeWanna Bonner], [Brittney Griner], [Tangela Smith], Kah, AT … and then I see Plum here, which is a full-circle moment in so many ways. Sign the extension.”
Whether it was a convenient coincidence, or a calculated plan by Phoenix knowing just how powerful Taurasi’s enshrinement would be to Plum, the moment landed. Taurasi’s role in helping Plum settle into Phoenix is real, not just a fan theory.
“That was someone I grew up watching play, and followed her career obviously very closely,” Plum said of the night. “Got to be teammates with her at USA, and then being here and her just opening her arms. Her and Penny [Taylor] have just been amazing for me and my family. I feel super grateful, and there’s not very many moments in life that you’d be able to see someone that you want to emulate, and then you’re now in the same space as them. I just feel super blessed. The whole community has just been amazing.”
Give experience to younger players
In recent years, the Mercury have shown a unique approach in how they bring in young talent and the supporting pieces to complement their star players. They’ve shown a reluctance to the draft, as they haven’t selected a player in the first round since 2020. Instead, they’ve shown a liking to searching for diamonds in the rough: undrafted rookies, veterans from overseas, players who were cut from their previous WNBA rosters.
That strategy has led to mixed results, as last season’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the unlikely contributions from players like Monique Akoa Makani, Kathryn Westbeld and Sami Whitcomb. Phoenix tried to double down on that blueprint for this season, bringing in relative unknowns like Valériane Ayayi, Noémie Brochant, Jovana Nogić and Kyara Linskens instead of more solidified WNBA players in free agency.
Ayayi and Brochant haven’t been bad, but the team’s record shows that they haven’t exactly been difference-makers. Nogić showed glimpses, but stepped away from the team in June to go back overseas. Linskens has struggled to crack the rotation, which is concerning for a 6’4 center on a team that lacks size.
Then there are rookies Martá Suarez, Kara Dunn, Shay Cieski and newly signed Saylor Poffenbarger (seven-day contract). All of whom were either undrafted or waived by their previous teams, and could be getting more opportunities to prove themselves in Phoenix with the playoffs being out of the picture.
“You’re going to see different lineups here the next seven games or so,” Tibbetts said before Tuesday’s game. “I think there’s going to be times when the veterans play with the young players, and there’s going to be times where there’s a lot of veterans out there. There’s going to be times where there’s all young players … Especially with Kelsey coming back, I think it’s important to continue to build those winning habits and playing the right way.”
Monday’s news that veteran forward DeWanna Bonner reached a contract buyout with Phoenix opens up those minutes even more. Her departure creates more opportunity for the younger players and overseas newcomers to see extended time, while also leaving the Mercury with a hole when it comes to having size, shooting and defensive versatility around their Big Three of Thomas, Copper and Plum.
“This was done out of respect for DB,” Tibbetts said at Monday’s practice. “This is an opportunity for her to chase the title in possibly her last season .., This is an opportunity for others to get minutes, to look at different rotations.”
Phoenix had already added another potential piece to that group a week before Bonner’s buyout, signing Maddy Westbeld to a rest-of-season contract. The 24-year-old forward is the younger sister of Kathryn, who is out for the season with an injury, and now gets a chance to carve out her own role in Phoenix.
Like the rookies, Westbeld represents another low-risk opportunity for the Mercury to evaluate a young player who could potentially fill a need now and in future seasons.
“Part of development is playing,” Tibbetts said. “I’m sure that you’ll see Maddy here a little bit in the next seven games now that she’s kind of learning our system and things like that. We’ll kind of see what each game brings [with] the rotations … and [to see] how Kah and AT and KP play together at times.”
Exactly how much any of them will need to show to earn a meaningful roster spot next season is difficult to know. The Mercury could bring back much of their current supporting cast, or use the offseason to overhaul it entirely. But the fact that they can start answering those questions now is a huge advantage — both for the front office and the players.
“No matter how much time is left in the season … I’m taking advantage of every opportunity that I get,” Westbeld said. “Whether that’s today, whether that’s tomorrow, it doesn’t matter how much time I have. I’m here to maximize it, and I’m grateful for whatever day that I get to be here. I’m just trying to enjoy the process, maximize the process.”
Get back to the Mercury standard
Phoenix didn’t just find itself at 13-25 by accident. The team has shown drastic regressions from last season in key areas, with defensive connectedness, effort level and turnovers being some of the issues pointed to the most.
The sense of why these issues suddenly appeared, and why they’ve been constantly repeated despite best efforts to explicitly address them, has been somewhat of a frustrating mystery. Even during the Mercury’s brightest moments where it’s looked like they could be turning a corner, ultimately they ended up falling back into the same habits. The work has been there, the results have not.
It could simply take closing the book on this season to finally put those issues behind them and begin anew next year. Or, they can use the final month of this season to start that process now. The team appears to be choosing the latter.
“I think when you’re eliminated from the playoffs, it’s about the now and still trying to do the standards that we talked about,” Tibbetts said. “We don’t want to just give in, we got to keep playing. I think that’s part of what we’ve talked about today with some of our team as far as how we’re moving offensively, things that we want to look at compared to what we’ve done, and so there is a little bit of a balance.”
Days earlier, when asked a similar question about the habits the team hopes to nail down in the remainder of the season, Copper added, “Fucking pride. We ain’t playing for nothing. We’re going to give it our all every single night. That for us, is important — to continue to show teams who we are and who we’re going to continue to be … We’re not just going through the motions.”
Last season, those habits started on the defensive end. The 2025 Mercury, led by Thomas who finished third in MVP voting, formed their identity on being a physical, gritty team that would take all the energy out of their opponents every single possession.
This season, it has looked like that’s what their opponents do to them every night. Phoenix ranks 11th in the league in offensive rating and 12th in the league in defensive rating, measures of how efficiently a team scores and prevents scoring, respectively.
Injuries to key players, changes in officiating and personnel adjustments could be contributing factors to those numbers, but after a whole season of little improvement in adapting to those challenges, it still feels like there’s something deeper that needs to be solved.
“I mean, we’re what, 12th in the league?” Thomas said. “I mean, that’s unheard of, especially for me. I’m accustomed to being at the top of the league, so yeah, that’s something that you have to look at at the end of the season.”
For all the questions the Mercury now face about what went wrong this season, the answers won’t come from simply putting this season behind them. They’ll come from what they do with what remains of it: how they play, what they learn and which pieces emerge as part of the solution.
That’s what makes the final stretch of the season more meaningful than the standings would suggest. Phoenix can’t change its record or salvage its playoff hopes, but it can begin building toward something better. It may be tempting to just want to get to the end of September and forget this season ever happened, but the final six games of the season will be very telling basketball.
“You have an opportunity to build chemistry,” Plum said. Obviously, there’s young players that are going to get an opportunity to play, which is exciting for them. And I know for me, I’m approaching these three games, and then obviously the World Cup, trying to get better.
“Everyone’s been playing a lot of basketball, so I got some catching up to do,” she continued. “[I’ve] been working really hard to get ready for this moment. So, if anything, I’m just going to enjoy it. That’s really what it is. It’s been a tough season, but at the same time, it’s a blessing to be able to play here.”
