The 2025 WNBA season marks the beginning of a new era of Phoenix Mercury basketball, and though the team’s roster will look almost entirely different than it did just one year ago, its goal remains the same: compete for a WNBA championship.
The retirement of basketball legend Diana Taurasi this past winter, as well as the loss of perennial All-Star Brittney Griner in free agency, left the Mercury in a position they hadn’t been in for quite some time. Phoenix general manager Nick U’Ren had to find a way to not only replace the duo’s on-court production, but also their status as the Mercury’s franchise players. Simply put, the team needed a new foundation to build upon.
U’Ren solved that issue quickly, pulling off a massive four-team, 13-player trade that brought star forwards Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally to Phoenix. Thomas and Sabally will join guard Kahleah Copper, who earned All-WNBA honors last season in her first year with the Mercury, as the core pieces of that foundation.
Granted, the cost of the trade was significant as Phoenix gave away fan favorites Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham, as well as all of its picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Beyond a couple of other veteran players the Mercury acquired in free agency, the rest of their regular-season…
