AFTER MUCH DISAPPOINTMENT:AND BECAUSE OF UNFINISHED INJURY PHOENIX MERCURY HEAD COACH DECIDED TO FIRE HER.
The Phoenix Mercury made the announcement on Sunday that shey paddy and they have “parted ways”.
Nikki Blue, the top assistant coach for the Mercury, has been promoted to head coach in an acting capacity for the balance of the 2023 campaign.
The move was made the day after Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi made their comebacks from three games away due to injuries, and the Mercury were crushed by the Storm in Seattle, 97-74. The Mercury (2-10) are the bottom team in the Western Conference and have the worst record in the WNBA.
In a statement made public on Sunday morning, Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman stated, “We have chosen to make a change at head coach.” “We are grateful to Vanessa Nygaard for overcoming and coping with the hardship over the past year and a half. With our performance this year, we have fallen short of the lofty expectations set by our organization and supporters for our team. We are confident in Nikki Blue’s ability to lead the team in an acting capacity for the balance of the 2023 campaign.
In February, United Wholesale Mortgage’s owner, Mat Ishbia, paid $4 billion to acquire both the Mercury franchise and the Phoenix Suns. Ishbia is a billionaire. A few days after the Suns were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets, the eventual NBA champions, in the playoffs, the team fired head coach Monty Williams. To replace him, Frank Vogel was brought on board.
In January 2022, Nygaard—a former assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces—was brought in to take Sandy Brondello’s job. In her two seasons, she went 17–31 overall. The first one was played without Griner since he was being held captive by Russian authorities.
The Mercury are worst in the league in terms of rebounds per game (29.3) and have the highest turnover rate (17.6) in the league.
