Skylar Diggins-Smith, Shey Peddy, Sophie Cunningham, and Brianna Turner saved the Mercury’s emotional 2022 season alive, battling on the hardwood whereas campaigning for the liberty of the staff’s largest star, Griner, who spent many of the season wrongfully detained in Russian prisons. On the sidelines, there was public discord between Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi, who additionally took subject with head coach Vanessa Nygaard’s response to her All-Star nod in a 12 months when Taurasi was not honored. In February, the franchise re-signed Taurasi to a multiyear deal and declared her “the face of the franchise.”
Diggins-Smith, at present on maternity go away, is the face of Puma’s “Desert Sky” marketing campaign. Her standing with the staff, nonetheless, is unclear. What is sure, although, is that Taurasi turns 41 in June and shouldn’t be promoted because the face of the franchise. She missed vital enjoying time in recent times due to numerous accidents. In 2022, her defensive effort at instances amounted to throwing her arms within the air reasonably than operating again to assist her staff. She even gave Sylvia Fowles the retirement present of a low blow.
Peddy, who sustained a ruptured Achilles within the 2022 playoffs, helped energy the Mercury to the ultimate playoff spot (a date for her return in 2023 has not but been set); she was in cahoots with the ultra-competitive Cunningham, who battled an elbow damage for a lot of the season, and Diggins-Smith, who grounded the Mercury in hoops IQ and expertise. These are the gamers, plus Turner and Griner, if she desires to be one among them, who ought to be promoted because the staff’s stars, for the sake of cementing the franchise’s future. Griner can do rather a lot for the Mercury, however solely the Phoenix entrance workplace can sew collectively its many frayed elements and snip away the threads that are now not helpful.
Phoenix performed its house opener towards the Chicago Sky. Griner scored 27 factors, grabbed 10 boards, and added 4 blocks.
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