The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; it is one of the eight original franchises. The team is owned by Mat Ishbia, who also owns the NBA team Phoenix Suns.
Tina Marie Thompson is an American former WNBA professional basketball player and coach. Most recently, she served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018 to 2022. Thompson was inducted into both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Kara Elizabeth Wolters is a retired American collegiate and professional basketball player and a current sports broadcaster. Standing at six feet seven inches (2.01 m) and nicknamed "Big Girl," she is the tallest player in University of Connecticut women's basketball history and one of the tallest women to ever play in the WNBA. During her playing career, she was an NCAA national champion (1995), FIBA world champion (1998), WNBA champion (1999), and Olympic champion (2000) becoming one of 11 women with those accolades. She also won AP College Player of the Year in 1997
Kara Marie Lawson is the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team. She is a former American professional women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a basketball television analyst for ESPN and the Washington Wizards. Lawson primarily played as a shooting guard. She won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, a championship with the Sacramento Monarchs in the 2005 WNBA Finals, and coached the United States women's national 3x3 team to gold in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Lawson retired from the WNBA in 2015 to focus on her broadcasting career. She began her coaching career as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the NBA in 2019.
Janeth dos Santos Arcain is a retired Brazilian professional women's basketball player. She played in the United States for the Houston Comets in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2005.
Olympia Scott, formerly known under her married name of Olympia Scott-Richardson, is an American former professional basketball player in the WNBA, and a former college coach. She is also co-founder of an online parenting education company called "Super Parenting LLC" and of a coaching company called "A Wonderful Life! Coaching".
Alice Ruth Bolton, known as Ruthie Bolton, is an American former professional women's basketball player. Born in Lucedale, Mississippi, she played at the collegiate, Olympic and professional levels of women's basketball. Bolton played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 through 2004 with the Sacramento Monarchs. She played collegiately at Auburn University, teaming with her older sister, Mae Ola Bolton. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. Bolton has also served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves as a transportation officer.
Edna Campbell is a retired women's basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The 5 ft 8 in guard played with the Sacramento Monarchs as well as three other teams, but is well known for continuing to play despite suffering breast cancer. In 2004, she was designated a Women's History Month honoree by the National Women's History Project. Campbell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
DeLisha Lachell Milton-Jones is an American retired professional basketball player and head coach of Old Dominion. Milton-Jones played college basketball for the University of Florida. She was a first-team All-American and SEC Player of the Year her senior season.
Tangela Nicole Smith is an American former basketball player in the WNBA. Smith played the bulk of her career for the Sacramento Monarchs and the Phoenix Mercury where she won two WNBA Championships. She's currently an assistant coach at Northwestern University.
Isabelle Fijalkowski, now Isabelle Fijalkowski-Tournebize, is a retired French basketball player. She was inducted into the French Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2011.
Yuko Oga is a Japanese basketball coach and former professional basketball player. A point guard, she played for JX Sunflowers of the Women's Japan Basketball League and the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. Her nickname is Shin.
Pamela Denise McGee is an American former professional women's basketball player, 2012 Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, and mother of two professional basketball players. She is the first WNBA mom to have a son and daughter drafted in the NBA and the WNBA. She is the only Olympic Gold Medalist to give birth to an Olympian in basketball. Her son JaVale received a gold medal in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. This was 37 years after his mother won hers in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles California. This would be the first of many first in her illustrious Basketball career. A pioneer in Women’s Basketball, she is featured in a HBO documentary,”Women of Troy”.
Adrian Williams-Strong is a former American professional women's basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Bridgette C. Gordon is an American retired female professional basketball player. She was a member of the United States women's national basketball team, that claimed the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
Lady Grooms is an American former professional basketball player, who was one of the 16 original WNBA players allocated to the teams in the new league's Initial Player Allocation draft. After a college career at the University of Georgia, she played 8 WNBA seasons and had career averages of 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, scoring over 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
Erin Buescher Perperoglou is a former American professional basketball player. She played most recently as a forward for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.
Eva Horáková, née Němcová, is a Czech basketball player.
Tammi Reiss is an American actress and former professional basketball player. She is currently the coach for the University of Rhode Island. Reiss is a native of New York state. Reiss graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 with a major in sports management. As a professional, she was chosen in the first round of the first-ever WNBA draft, and she played for two years with the Utah Starzz.
Judy Rae Mosley-McAfee was a professional basketball player. She played a season for the Sacramento Monarchs.
