The Phoenix Mercury were on a three-game winning streak before it was snapped by the Indiana Fever on Friday, and the story of the game was how significantly injured the Mercury were.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!5 injured players see Mercury mightly shorthanded
On the current roster, Phoenix has 11 players signed which is just one short of the maximum amount allowed, 12.
Even though 12 is doable, if a team is infested with injuries, there is a cause for concern with how they will be able to survive and that is exactly the crisis that the Mercury are going through.
Phoenix has two games left on its schedule before the WNBA All-Star Game and the Olympic break, but has seen five players ruled out with injuries. Sug Sutton (Right Hamstring), Diana Taurasi and Charisma Osborne (Lower Left Leg) were inactive against the Fever before Natasha Cloud (Left Knee) was ruled out an hour before the game.
What made matters even worse was that Brittney Griner sustained a right hip injury early on in the 95-86 loss and Rebecca Allen (lower back) was forced to play on a minutes restriction as she has been dealing with a lower back injury for over a week.
This forced Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts to roll out the same five players who were healthy, including Celeste Taylor who was signed not even 12 hours before she made her Mercury debut and played 24 minutes.
Expanding roster size would benefit Mercury, WNBA
Trying to wrap his head around what has been going on with his team and the adversity they are dealing with, Tibbetts believes the league should raise the number of players on each roster.
“My hope is the league [WNBA] in this new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) will expand the roster sizes,” Tibbetts said about the injury issues. “I’ve heard coaches talk about it and I am new to this league, but it can be better than what it is. It shouldn’t get to this point. We had seven to start, BG goes down and we are down to six with three and a half quarters to go. Bec Allen is on a minutes restriction, so we had five to finish.”
"It can be better than what it is."
With just six players able to play the majority of the game vs. the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts believes roster sizes should be increased in the #WNBA.#ValleyTogether #FeverRising pic.twitter.com/vIwjEiz7EX
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) July 13, 2024
This topic was called into question even before the Mercury began the season.
They drafted Osborne and guard Jaz Shelley in the third round of the 2024 WNBA Draft in April only to waive them both a month later with the limited amount of roster space. Osborne became a free agent before she was brought back by the Mercury while Shelley did not get a shot in the WNBA and is playing in Australia.
Technically the Mercury have one available spot on the team left, but the WNBA has a hard salary cap of $1,463,200 this season and Phoenix has spent $1,434,877, according to Spotrac. In the team’s current state, the Mercury cannot afford to sign someone else longer than a seven-day contract since they only have $28,323 left in remaining cap space.
Since they are in dire need of another player, it would be interesting if the league itself would grant them either hardship or emergency hardship exceptions to go over the salary cap since those are the only two options left if the Mercury wants to add someone.
Time will tell if the current situation for the Mercury will be resolved or if they will have to go into the next two games with the Connecticut Sun (Sunday) and Washington Mystics (Tuesday) with the possibility of up to five players out.
Either way, if the NBA allows 15 players on each team, the WNBA can come up with a compromise and allow its rosters to expand and raise the salary cap which would create more opportunities for players around the world to compete in one, if not, the best women’s basketball leagues around.
Nate Tibbetts provides minor update on Brittney Griner’s status
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
