Sports
Mercury to pick third overall pick in 2024 WNBA Draft – The Arizona Republic
The Phoenix Mercury will select third overall in the WNBA Draft following the lottery on Sunday.
For the second consecutive year, the Indiana Fever will select first overall.
The lottery format looked at the cumulative record from the last two seasons, which gave the Mercury (24-51) the second-best odds behind the Fever (18-58). The Los Angeles Sparks (30-46) will pick second overall after finishing with the third-best odds, while the Seattle Storm (33-43) will pick fourth.
The good news for first-year General Manager Nick U’Ren is that he has a good chance to select another game-changing talent.
“No matter what, we were going to come out of this with a lottery pick,” U’Ren said. “Of course, everyone wants to get one or two, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be an asset that we can use, whether it’s a player we draft or a pick we trade. This is a chance to add assets, add talent to our roster, and we’re really excited about that.”
There is still uncertainty of what this draft will look like for the Mercury, as it’s not guaranteed the organization will use its third overall pick.
For U’Ren, the free-agency period is a big indicator on what the Mercury will look like next season and what direction he’ll want to go.
“We probably won’t know that until we get into the January and February period where some of the player movement happens and it’ll still be on the table once we get into the draft. I think everything is on the table right now and we’ll analyze that as it comes,” U’Ren said.
In 2007, the Mercury drafted Lindsey Harding at first overall before trading her to the Minnesota Lynx for veteran forward/center Tangela Smith. Smith played a big role in the Mercury’s 2007 and 2009 championship teams.
The 2024 draft could be one of the best in history if every top player who is eligible declares. But there’s also the catch of several players possibly exercising their COVID-19 waiver and staying in college.
Aside from Caitlin Clark, the consensus first overall pick from Iowa, there are other standouts who could enter the draft, including Stanford center Cameron Brink, UConn guard Paige Bueckers, LSU center Angel Reese, UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards, and South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso.
The Mercury could find a potential successor to Diana Taurasi in Clark or Bueckers, but there are other needs as well. A post player like Edwards, Reese or Brink would help as the Mercury finished last in rebounding and in defensive rating last season.
It will be a new era for the Mercury under head coach Nate Tibbetts and associate head coach Kristi Toliver. Both have coaching experience in the NBA, but Toliver brings in a wealth of knowledge after spending the last 14 seasons playing the WNBA.
“We’re thrilled to have her and we’re thrilled she chose to come work with us and I think she’ll be a tremendous asset to our team, our staff, everything,” U’Ren said. “A huge reason I’m here is the investment that (owner) Mat (Ishbia) is going to put into the team and I fully trust us next season to come in with a repaired, thorough, and robust staff.”
