Mercury poised for success after the All-Star Break

The Phoenix Mercury made quite a splash this offseason, signing or trading for 10 of their 12 players entering the season. Among those moves was acquiring Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally from the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings respectively, helping form a new “Big 3” with Kahleah Copper after the retirement of Diana Taurasi and the departure of Brittney Griner in free agency. There were certainly questions as to how the new group would perform together, but coming up on the halfway point, the Mercury have blown expectations out of the water. Especially because of contributions from up and down the roster.

The Big 3

Despite giving more thought to what goes into creating nuclear fission or the halls of the Louvre than ever shooting a 3-pointer, Alyssa Thomas remains one of the best players in the world. Defenses sag off her when she’s outside of 15 feet but it doesn’t matter. She remains effective anyways by utilizing an array of post moves and slick passing, leading the WNBA in assists with 9.6 per game. Nicknamed “The Engine,” she also has no shortcomings on the defensive side of the ball, often picking up an opposing team’s best player and has the trash talk to boot.

Thomas is no slouch on the boards either, sitting 11th in the league at 7.4 per game. Essentially, she’s a triple-double threat every time she steps on the hardwood for the Mercury. After multiple times coming close, she finally got her first triple-double in a Mercury uniform and the 16th of her career in a matchup against the Wings. In her first season in the desert, Thomas was named an All Star for the sixth time in her career

“For me, it’s about winning,” Thomas said. “Of course it’s always nice to get a triple-double, to get my first one in a Mercury uniform, to have the crowd behind me, cheering you on like that, it’s a warm welcome.”

Until recently, Satou Sabally has been a mark of health on a team otherwise bitten by the injury bug in 2025. She’s had a bit of an up and down career: she finished third in Rookie of the Year in 2020, saw her scoring fall the next two years but still became an All Star, won the Most Improved Player award while making the All-WNBA first team, missed a majority of last season with injury, and now finds herself on a new team for the first time in her WNBA career. Sabally is averaging a career-high 19.1 points and was named a 2025 All-Star Game starter which she unfortunately had to sit out due to injury.

The Mercury started the season without Kahleah Copper due to a left knee arthroscopy. It took her a month or so to come back, and she’s since been sidelined with a hamstring injury, but when she has played Copper has performed as well as expected. All six of her games back she’s recorded double-digit points and seen her minutes go up too. This was highlighted by a 33-point performance, albeit in a loss to the Wings.

“I’m just proud of myself for just grinding through that, and then being able to see the results come up, but the win would have made it a little sweeter,” Copper said after the game.

The Rookies and the Vets

Of course the Big 3 aren’t doing it on their own. The role players around them have stepped up their game, consisting of a healthy dose of rookies and veteran leadership. The rookie group consisting mainly of Kathryn Westbeld, Monique Akoa-Makani, Kitija Laksa and Lexi Held (who has missed time with a collapsed lung since June 19) along with veterans Sami Whitcomb, Kalani Brown and Natasha Mack have done wonders in supporting the Big 3.

With injuries up and down the roster, the Mercury haven’t ever quite been fully healthy this year. But thanks to the supporting cast, Phoenix has stayed more than just afloat – they’ve actually thrived. They’ve been great by being selfless, and their teammates are grateful.

“No one has to take tough shots,” Thomas said of the team. “When you read what the defense is giving you, I think an open shot is better than anything. When you have so many shooters like that, it just makes it that much easier.”

Westbeld may not be a contender for Rookie of the Year, but she’s having an impressive WNBA debut nonetheless. She’s third among rookies in blocks per game (0.8) and became the first rookie in Mercury history to have 20+ steals and 15+ blocks through their first 20 career games. The only other rookies to do this over the last five seasons are All Stars Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Rhyne Howard.

Akoa-Makani has started every single game she’s played for the Mercury so far this season and been more than impressive. Again, like Westbeld, she won’t be contending for Rookie of the Year but has done everything asked of her and more. Akoa-Makani has proven to be an elite shooter. She ranks eighth in the league in 3-point percentage at 43.1 percent and has yet to miss a free throw this year, in a sample size of 26 attempts. Unfortunately, she is set to miss time with a concussion.

While Laksa has been through a bit of a cold stretch from 3-point land, she was among the league leaders in 3-point percentage the first two-thirds of the season. Even amidst this cold spell, the threat of her shot is ever present and creates opportunities for herself in the midrange and for teammates in space off the ball. Held has not played in a month due to a collapsed lung, but when she was on the court, was one of the Mercury’s most impactful defenders at the guard spot. Had she played enough games to qualify, she’d rank tied for tenth in the league with 1.5 steals per game.

Outside of the Big 3, you can make an argument Whitcomb is the most important player to the Mercury’s success. Somehow in her age 36-37 season she continues to improve, putting up the second best scoring mark of her career at 10.8 points per game, her second most rebounds ever with 3.3 and second most assists per game with 2.8 a night. Opposite of Laksa, Whitcomb struggled from behind the arc to start the year but has come on as off late, including a career-high 36 points on seven made 3’s.

“That’s the thing about it, shots fall or they don’t fall,” Whitcomb said after her career-night. “We talked about the ‘math, mathing’ thing, and it finally sort of has now. It started to turn the corner a little bit, but the rest of the season, if I don’t make shots for a stretch, if I do, I’m going to keep shooting them. I’m going to keep doing the same thing in terms of my prep, but games like this and making shots and stuff definitely helps you.”

Down in the paint, bigs Kalani Brown and Natasha Mack have been holding down the fort and complement each other well. Brown, the more offensively gifted of the two, can often be found snagging offensive rebounds or catching the ball up high above her head in the pick and roll for easy points around the hoop. Additionally, she’s shooting a career high on two-point attempts at 68.3 percent. Mack is the defensive specialist of the two. Per 40 minutes, Mack ranks third in WNBA in offensive rebounds with 5.2, third in steals with 3.0 and fifth in blocks at 2.8 per game.

A Familiar Face Returns

DeWanna Bonner spent the first ten seasons of her career with the Phoenix Mercury where she won three 6th Player of the Year awards, was a three-time All Star and made the All-WNBA First Team in 2015. Along with winning two championships of course. After spending time with the Connecticut Sun, Bonner joined the Indiana Fever this offseason but a fit never materialized. She was ultimately waived and chose to return back to the Mercury.

While it’s only been three games, the early returns on the WNBA’s third all-time leading scorer have looked promising. This was highlighted in a road game against the Golden State Valkyries. Banking on their chemistry they developed while playing together on the Sun, Bonner and Thomas connected on multiple buckets in what ended up a crucial 78-77 Mercury win. Bonner finished the game with 22 points and 11 rebounds, connecting on 3-4 from deep and 7-8 overall from the field.

“She brings an easiness to the group, I mean this is year 16 for her,” Tibbetts said of Bonner. “All the minutes and all the years that she and AT (Alyssa Thomas) have played together, that connection’s over the top. She’s never in a hurry. She doesn’t even know all our sets yet and is learning as we go, but we’re really excited. Just a veteran presence that has seen everything. She’s won championships, she’s been in big games and this group needed that piece.”