BG is back.
Diana Taurasi is also back, but she’ll be 41 for most of the season and how effective she’ll be at that age remains to be seen. She was great last year at age 40, averaging 16.7 points and 3.8 assists over the course of 31 games. So maybe she will continue to prover doubters wrong and be ageless.
BG being 100 percent is another aspect of the Mercury’s upcoming season that is in question. Griner was detained in Russia for almost 10 months and has only been back in the States for five. She reportedly did not play basketball while detained even though there was a hoop where she was initially, because it was depressing to remind herself of basketball.
Griner did not play in Phoenix’s first preseason game on May 8. She did appear in the team’s second preseason contest, which was at home this past Friday, scoring 10 points in 17:13. She added three rebounds and a block and was 2-of-5 from the field (6-of-8 on free throws). That’s pretty promising, but we shouldn’t jump to conclusions that she’ll consistently be as great as she usually is during the first stretch of the season.
If she is 100 percent, she’s an MVP candidate for sure. The last time she played in the WNBA (2021) she finished second in the voting for that award. Most Swish Appeal…
