Preseason games bring valuable lessons to the Phoenix Mercury

With almost an entirely new roster, Phoenix’s two preseason matchups provided a more accurate preview of what the 2025 Phoenix Mercury would look like. Here’s what the Mercury taught viewers about themselves in those two games.

Pace and space

From day one of training camp, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts indicated that he wanted his team to play fast and play with a lot of space this season.

In both preseason games, the team’s intent to space the floor was evident. Still, it wasn’t perfect, with multiple instances of overcrowding on one side or section of the floor.

“I was probably a little bit disappointed in more of our spacing,” Tibbetts said postgame against Las Vegas. “I think we’ve done a great job in camp of kind of understanding what we want to do, but I think fatigue and just the excitement, we kind of fell into a little bit of bad habits.”

Playing with pace was also a challenge at times. Tuesday’s game against Las Vegas included several tiring sequences in which the Mercury and the Aces traded turns sprinting up and down the floor without a whistle or stoppage to slow things down.

Sunday, there were similar sequences in the first half, but once the starters left the game, things slowed down considerably. Phoenix had two shot clock violations and several other possessions that necessitated a last-second heave to avoid a violation. Their inability to find a consistent rhythm after halftime was apparent.

“I thought the first half again, we played pretty good basketball,” Tibbetts told media postgame Sunday. “We didn’t shoot it great, but we got three pretty good guards that were out that have had good, really good camps for us. So we got to look at some different people, which is what you want in the preseason, and different lineups. And my substitutes and patterns were a little bit off. That’s not what it’s going to look like in the regular season.”

Still, Sunday’s game saw Phoenix score 20 points in the fast break in comparison to Tuesday’s four. Finding a consistent pace and rhythm will likely be one of the Mercury’s primary focuses in preparation for Saturday’s opener.

Turnover turmoil

One of the negative effects of the Mercury attempting to play at such a high speed was the increased propensity for turnovers. Between the two games, the Mercury totaled 38 turnovers that led to 48 points for their opponents.

“I would say after two games, it’s concerning,” Tibbetts said postgame Sunday. “But I think part of it is just us. We got to play against a different defense, and it’s going to take a little bit of time. But yeah, too many turnovers.”

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The turnovers came in different formats as well. Against Las Vegas, every player except for Sami Whitcomb and Kathryn Westbeld turned the ball over, but no one player had more than two. Against Golden State, the mistakes were more concentrated, with Satou Sabally having five and Whitcomb, Alyssa Thomas and Sevgi Uzun having three.

A majority of the turnovers were unforced errors; they were the results of unnecessarily risky, careless or errant passes. But the Mercury are confident that they’ll be able to decrease their number of turnovers heading into the regular season.

“We had a lot of sloppy turnovers,” Sabally said postgame Sunday. “Those can be limited. A lot of times, [the Valkyries] just turned their aggression on a little bit more. And then we had another three turnovers here and there. … I’m not too stressed, because it does come with the game. And like I said, with team chemistry, you will know blindly where your teammates are, and we just don’t have that yet, but it looks so much better than it did the first day in training camp. So I’m very optimistic.”

Roles of the Big 3

The most notable change for the Mercury this season is the addition of Sabally and Thomas. The pair, combined with Kahleah Copper, forms the Mercury’s new rendition of a Big Three looking to bring a championship back to Phoenix.

Through two games, the roles each member of the big three is expected to play became somewhat more apparent.

In both games, Sabally tied for the team lead in points. Across both contests, she was 6-for-11 from beyond the arc, finding most of her looks on quick passes from teammates. Sabally also added a total of 11 rebounds, establishing her role as a lead scorer expected to use her length defensively and on the boards.

“It also helps having players on the fourth floor that really spread the floor out,” Sabally said. “So I have the space to take those shots. I have the space to create downhill drives, and you have to respect that, so that automatically opens up clear shots for me. And also great screen setting too. I think I had, like, two, three, threes, just have a great ball screen, and then I could shoot that.”

Thomas illustrated her versatility as a passer and as a scorer with a total of 11 assists in preseason play. She also led the team in scoring Sunday, along with Sabally, with 15 points. In Phoenix’s fluid offense, Thomas has the space to find passing lanes and set teammates up to hit shots and find driving lanes. She also contributed on the boards, grabbing five in each game.

Copper only played in Tuesday’s game, sitting out Sunday with a back injury. In her 16 minutes of action Tuesday, Copper scored six points on 3-for-8 shooting. The locations of her shot attempts matched Copper’s expectations coming off last season. She spent most of her time playing inside the 3-point line, making tough drives to the hoop and using her athleticism to get to the rim or pull up from the midrange.

Cohesion among Copper, Sabally and Thomas will likely be the biggest indicator of the Mercury’s success. The fact that they managed to get through preseason play without stepping on each other’s toes and overpowering each other is a good sign.

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Relentless rebounding

In 2024, the Phoenix Mercury were 11th in the league in rebounding. They averaged a disappointing 32.3 rebounds per game, and only Brittney Griner averaged more than 5.0 rebounds per game (6.6).

In both preseason games this year, the Mercury won the rebounding battles, 35-27 and 46-33 respectively. They cleaned up the boards defensively and offensively, outpacing the Aces and the Valkyries on both ends of the floor.

Bringing in Thomas and Sabally was expected to help with rebounding, but other free agent additions and training camp players have also adopted an aggressive mentality when it comes to rebounding.

Sunday, Natasha Mack had seven rebounds, behind only Whitcomb’s eight. Mack, who looks to have a larger role with the team this year, also has the potential to make a big difference in Phoenix’s rebounding, considering she averaged 5.0 in 15.5 minutes per game last year.

“That’s always been my role,” Mack said postgame Sunday. “Since I can play basketball. I just always been longer, I can jump. So I was like, if I can do one thing, impact the game is rebounding.”

Building the roster

Now that the Mercury are through their preseason schedule, Tibbetts and the front office have tough decisions to make about who will make the final roster.

After Tuesday’s game, the Mercury waived guards Anna Makurat and Shyla Heal. Friday, the team announced Helena Pueyo would sit out the season due to personal reasons. With three days to make decisions, the roster currently sits at 16 players.

“Who’s going to fit next to our best players?” Tibbetts said of evaluating players before making cuts. “Culturally, what we’re about, are they workers? Are they team players? All that stuff matters, and so we’ve had a really good camp. We’ve got some tough decisions to be made. There’s still room and roster spots to be had, and so we’ll look at all those things.”

Monique Akoa Makani has made a strong case for a spot, despite missing Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Pregame, Tibbetts indicated the team’s desire to give her time to recover to have her ready for Saturday.

Westbeld is another player who has stood out among other training camp players. Against the Aces, Westbeld had 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting. She followed that up with eight points in 20 solid minutes in Sunday’s contest. Westbeld has several years of overseas professional play under her belt that have helped her quickly adapt in her time as a WNBA professional.

“I was a good role player for Notre Dame,” Westbeld told the media at practice Thursday. “And I think being able to play overseas and kind of develop my own game a lot, I feel a lot more confident coming into this training camp.

“I was in Hungary this past season,” Westbeld continued. “It’s a really physical league, so I feel like that was a good preparation for how physical this league is, and the pace is similar. It’s a fast game. The contact and just a lot of pressure is put on you. So I feel like you’re preparing for big moments.”

Another player with potential to make the roster is one who hasn’t even stepped foot in training camp. Murjanatu Musa is on the team’s radar for depth she’d be able to provide in the frontcourt, but her success overseas with Tarbes Gespe Bigorre in France has prevented her from working out with the team thus far.

“We want roster balance, and that’s why we’re excited about her,” Tibbetts said. “Our hope is that she can play next to our best players. She kind of reminds me of Mack. Like she can get in and out of pick-and-roll. She’s tough, she’s athletic, she’s physical. So we’ll see.”

The same is true for Kitija Laksa, who will certainly make the roster as one of Phoenix’s protected contracts. Sunday, Tibbetts pointed to Laksa’s perimeter shooting as the most prominent aspect of her game that warranted bringing her on the team.

“I think just what she’s done overseas, and her being one of the premier shooters around, we want to put shooting around our good players,” Tibbetts said. “We were really excited about [Laksa] and what she brings. I know she’s excited to be here, just don’t know when.”

The regular season is quickly approaching, and the Mercury will have their work cut out for them in getting fully prepared. Nonetheless, flashes of how good this Phoenix team could be were evident in preseason play. Only time will tell which version of the Mercury will be the one to take over in 2025.

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