Without the past, there’s no present. Let’s be real: we can’t talk about what’s going on in Phoenix right now without talking about Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner first.
DT was the franchise’s first-ever No. 1 pick in ’04, and from the moment she arrived until she retired 20 years later, she was the franchise’s centerpiece, the iron at the core of their offense. Taurasi played a style of basketball tougher than the element itself: the spin moves, the fadeaway pull-up jumpers, the crisp dimes, all that attitudeand fire. Everyone’s got a DT story, a moment they’ll never forget: the trash talk, the kiss, that selfie she took after getting ejected (“Got tossed, lol.”), the door. Early on, the Mercury played a fast-paced, run-and-gun offense under then-head coach Paul Westhead, known as the “The System,” that allowed DT to evolve into a scoring machine. By ’06, she averaged a career-high 25.3 ppg; by ’07, she was a champion. Just two years later in ’09, the Merc’s legendary trio of DT, her now-wife Penny Taylor and Cappie Pondexter won another one.
In 2013, the Mercury drafted a 6-9 anomaly from Baylor named Brittney Griner as the No. 1 pick. BG opened up the team’s spacing, dunked on their competition and helped bring another title back to the Valley of the Sun in 2014. The rest is…
History. No one could have imagined that last season would be the very last time we’d ever see those two in the purple and orange. This past February, the franchise as we know it changed forever: Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream in free agency. Right around the same time, the Mercury made a four-team trade to acquire Alyssa Thomas from Connecticut and Satou Sabally from Dallas, as well as center Kalani Brown and guard Sevgi Uzun (from the Wings). As for Taurasi, it was a matter of if she was going to retire or return for Year 21. On February 25, she announced in TIME that she was retiring from the game. The end of an era.
Now, for the first time in a very, very long time, the Mercury are starting over. Under the helm of head coach Nate Tibbetts, the Mercury have a vision for how their squad, led by the new Big 3, will compete this season. Everyone’s calling it positionless basketball.
The term isn’t one Tibbetts came up with directly, but it is one he’s embracing. “I don’t know who has termed it ‘positionless,’” he said, via Desert Wave Media. “I love the term. We’re just trying to figure it out and play with space.”
For the past decade, the Mercury relied heavily on DT’s scoring ability and BG’s defensive dominance, but Tibbetts has reimagined the Mercury’s system entirely. They’ll still play fast and aggressive defensively, but he’s emphasizing way more versatility. “Us going in and getting [Thomas] and [Sabally] is just going to give us more size. Maybe just not at the center position, but just positionally,” Tibbetts continued. “Like [Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren] said, let’s make this our own path. We’ve got different ideas.”
By utilizing each player’s individual skill set and not limiting them to the confines of their traditional positions, Tibbetts is going to let his stars unleash their creativity while creating opportunities for others. For a player like Sabally, who earned the nickname “Unicorn” because of how dynamic and unique her game is (in Dallas, she averaged 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and a career-high 5.0 assists last season in just 15 games due to injury), it’ll allow her to play with the freedom she hasn’t had before. “Positionless basketball is what we’ve all been doing as individual players,” Sabally said to the media on May 8, while sitting alongside Copper, Thomas and Tibbetts. “Now we’re put into a system that will really enhance that and will let us be free.”
As she spoke, Thomas, who is one of the best facilitators in the League and a six-time All-Defensive superstar, nodded her head in agreement. During her time in Connecticut, AT broke the WNBA single-season record for assists (316) and double-doubles (28) in 2023 and remains the franchise’s leader in almost every major category, including games played, rebounds and assists. “[Thomas is] a basketball wizard,” Tibbetts told the media, via TheNext. “I’ve been super happy with how she’s been willing to speak up and use her voice in situations. You can say a lot of things about [Thomas], but the number one thing is, she’s a winner. Her teams win, and they win at a high level. That’s what we want, to win at the highest level here, too.”
With 11 years of veteran experience, Thomas can now tap into all the different layers of her game, from running the point to also playing center and forward. “AT starting the break, imagine a 4 trying to pick her up full court? That’s tough,” said Copper.
As for Kah, who averaged a career-high 21.1 points per game while earning her fourth All-Star appearance last year, she’ll be expected to drop buckets, play aggressive defense and bring that same intensity, grit and Philly-bred attitude she’s always played with (who could forget the in-your-face staredown she gave Sophie Cunningham in Game 2 of the Finals in 2021?). But her impact this season, specifically, will go way beyond just the Xs and Os. Kah is undeniably one of the team’s leaders, and having played with greats like Candace Parker, whom she won a title with in Chicago, as well as Griner and Taurasi last year, this is now her time to lead a squad of her own.
“Playing with great players is a great thing,” Copper said earlier this month, via AZcentral. “You learn different leadership styles. Just going back to my 2020-21 season [in Chicago], winning the championship, that team was full of leaders, but leaders in their own way. And I think you’re able to be your best, most authentic and genuine self when you do it your own way.”
While it’s only been a few weeks since training camp started in late April, it’s Copper who will “set the tone” every single day, according to Tibbetts. “[Copper] is special,” Tibbetts said, via TheNext. “She means a lot to me and what we’re trying to do, and her growth over the course of the year, like, a year ago, she and I, we had just met for the first time, and our conversations, our relationship, our trust, is at the ultimate level…My whole challenge to her this year is lead. And it’s not just with what you say, it’s what you do…And every day she has set the tone.”
Her presence is already being felt by her teammates, too. “We’ve already had a conversation… she was like, I’m gonna demand a lot from you,” says Sabally. “We looked each other in the eyes and we were like, Yeah, good. I want that. I know her drive as a player. That’s where I want to be.”
As for what happens next, all eyes will be on Phoenix to see how exactly they rise to the occasion this season, which officially starts May 16. Still, it’s obvious that the Mercury are not looking to rewrite the past, but pen their own chapter. No one can replicate what Taurasi and Griner brought to the organization, but with a new roster, a new training facility, a new philosophy and a ton of new additions—including sharpshooter Sami Whitcomb from Seattle, overseas standouts Monique Akoa-Makani, Anna Makurat and Shyla Heal, and new signees like Alexis Prince and Kitija Laksa, to name a few—the opportunities are endless. “I anticipate I’ll get some of the most open looks I’ve had probably in my career, because people will leave me to guard them,” Whitcomb says of the Big 3. Adds Kalani Brown: “Nate has given me a green light, and he wants me to evolve. So I’m very happy about that. It’s very uncomfortable at first, but I think once I get it down, it’s gonna be better.”
Without the present, there’s no future, and right now, the Mercury are locked in on just that. Exactly how it’ll all come together, only time will tell.
“In the end, it’s still basketball,” says Satou. “The ball has to fall in the hoop, and we’re pretty good at that.”
Portraits by Erik Isakson.
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