Mercury Decides To Part Ways with Head Coach:
Photo by Nick Koza (Getty Images)
The Phoenix Mercury has been in a fight for success this season. Previously a dominate team, the Mercury’s past two seasons have been extremely detrimental to the organization. But to make matters even more complicated, Phoenix was lead by a new head coach last season and at the start of this season. Vanessa Nygaard, the prior head coach for Phoenix, first coached professionally at the beginning of last season. Nygaard herself was a player, a high school head coach, and even an assistant WNBA coach. However, she was never a WNBA head coach until last season during her debut with the Mercury. Her professional coach career did not last long with the Mercury, as Phoenix has decided to cut their ties with Nygaard. Vanessa’s position is now being held by Nikki Blue, an interim coach for the Mercury.
The 2022-2023 season was a brutal one for Phoenix, as all eyes were awaiting the return of Brittney Griner. Griner was detained in Russia for an estimate of eight months due to an incident in which she was in a violation of a law. But incidents did not stop there, as Tina Charles decided to walk away from the team to go to the Seattle Storm. Charles stated, “there’s a way she would like to be coached,” and only spent 16 games with the Mercury last season. Things got more dense for the Mercury as one of their star-veterans, Diana Taurasi got into a verbal altercation with her teammate, Skylar Diggins-Smith.
Ironically adding to the toasted team chemistry, Diggins-Smith was voted an all-star, while Taurasi was not. Attempting to be supportive but not forgetful, coach Vanessa took it upon herself to congratulate Diggins-Smith. Right after the congrats, she stated that it “wouldn’t be an all-star game without Taurasi.” This created a rocky relationship between Taurasi, Diggins-Smith, and coach Nygaard and ultimately resulted in Skylar mocking Nygaard. Towards the playoffs, Taurasi got injured and Diggins-Smith left to give birth to her second child. So with a first-year head coach and Taurasi, Griner, and Diggins-Smith away from the team, everything was on a continuous decline for Phoenix. This resulted in an unsuccessful season for the team and organization.
Now that Griner is safely back in the U.S. and playing with the team, and Taurasi has returned from rehab, the 2023-24 season still is not going well. Diggins-Smith has not portrayed any signs of returning, and the Mercury are sitting in last place of the WNBA rankings. Ranking #12 this season, Phoenix’s record is just 3-13 meaning the organization has not won at least 1/4 of their games this season. Has the continuous downfall of the Mercury stemmed from turmoil caused by Nygaard? Will new interim coach, Nikki Blue create a brighter future for the remainder of the season?