Who cares if Phoenix ever makes a first or second-round draft pick again? The price to get DeShields is steep, but the fit makes sense, especially since she will be surrounded by shooting on the Mercury roster. The Mercury shouldn’t miss Hartley too much, as Skylar Diggins-Smith, Taurasi, and Shey Peddy ably fill the guard rotation, along with Sophie Cunningham toggling between the 2 and 3. That might not be the best roster-building strategy since one of those players would be Kia Nurse, and she is unlikely to play this season, but Phoenix has tended to prioritize top-end talent over depth. Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Imagesīy moving on from Bria Hartley, the team saves $46,000 in cap room and can offer a veteran - say Tina Charles? - about $180,000 if they fill out the rest of the roster with minimums. It’s getting easier to imagine Olympic teammates Brittney Griner and Tina Charles as club teammates after this latest trade.
The best guess is that the fifth starter will remain Brianna Turner, but the Mercury have opened up some other options for the power forward slot. Barring unforeseen circumstances, she will start alongside Phoenix’s big three. DeShields gets a two-year, fully-protected deal for $150,000/$154,500, per Her Hoop Stats. The most consequential player involved in this deal is DeShields, so let’s start there. 22 pick (from PHX), 2023 2nd round pick (from PHX) Here are the terms of Phoenix’s trade with Chicago and Indiana that was finalized Thursday:Ĭhicago receives: Julie Allemand, 2023 1st round pick (from PHX) Phoenix general manager Jim Pitman is always willing to get creative, and prioritize the present over the future, and that’s what took place in a three-way trade that fills the Mercury’s gap at starting small forward, though at a high cost. However, the team was too close to simply run it back and wait out the final year of Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi’s contracts.
#Phoenix mercury roster upgrade#
ET live on Facebook.The Phoenix Mercury were two games away from a fourth WNBA championship in 2021, but faced limited avenues to upgrade their roster with their existing cap sheet. The Sparks officially open the 2021 season at home versus the Dallas Wings on Friday, May 14 at 10:30 p.m. Sykes is entering her second year with the Los Angeles Sparks. She left Syracuse as the all-time leader in career assists (736), the first player to surpass 600 and 700 assists in program history, and the fastest ‘Cuse WBB player to score 1,000 career points.įive-year WNBA veteran Brittney Sykes (‘17) will be the lone Orange representative in the league this summer. Mangakahia missed the 2019-20 season to battle Stage 2 breast cancer and returned to the court last season to lead the Orange to a 15-9 overall record. She led the nation in assists and assists per game in two of the three seasons she played and set multiple program and conference records in those categories. In three seasons with Syracuse, Mangakahia averaged 15.3 points, 8.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds per contest in 85 games.
Prior to training camp, Mangakahia stated that if she did not make the team she would head home to Australia and play professionally there, so we will keep an eye out for any developments there. She totaled seven turnovers between the two scrimmages. Mangakahia appeared in both of the Mercury’s preseason games, tallying seven points and a rebound in one game and four points and an assist in the second one. Every player in training camp has to compete for a spot on the team and unfortunately Mangakahia did not make the cut this year. The WNBA has just 144 total available roster spots, with each team having at most 12 players. Mangakahia went undrafted this spring, but signed a training camp contract with fellow Australian Sandy Brondello and the Phoenix Mercury shortly after the draft. It would appear the Chicago Sky have waived Brittany Boyd-Jones and the Phoenix Mercury have waived Sara Blicavs, Ciera Johnson, and Tiana Mangakahia.- Kurtis May 12, 2021
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