2016 Phoenix Mercury season

The 2016 WNBA season was the 20th season for the Phoenix Mercury franchise of the WNBA. The season began on May 14, on the road against the [2016 2016 Minnesota Lynx season|Minnesota Lynx season|Minnesota Lynx]. The Mercury began the season with four straight losses. They lost their opening night game 95–76 and followed that with a four-point loss to [2016 2016 Indiana Fever season|Indiana Fever season|Indiana] and a one-point loss at home against [2016 2016 Seattle Storm season|Seattle Storm season|Seattle]. They broke the streak with a 93–77 win against [2016 2016 Washington Mystics season|Washington Mystics season|Washington]. They finished the month with another win to end with a 2–4 record. They began June with two road losses, which they followed with home wins against [2016 2016 San Antonio Stars season|San Antonio Stars season|San Antonio] and [2016 2016 Chicago Sky season|Chicago Sky season|Chicago]. They could not build momentum off those wins as they lost their next game on the road 77–71 against [2016 2016 Los Angeles Sparks season|Los Angeles Sparks season|Los Angeles]. They then lost two straight, one at home and one away, against [2016 2016 Dallas Wings season|Dallas Wings season|Dallas], including a 117–111 overtime home loss. They followed that with two road wins, including an overtime victory over New York, and finished the month with a home win over Connecticut. The team finished 5–5 in June. The Mercury lost four of their first five games of July, with their only win coming on the road against [2016 2016 Atlanta Dream season|Atlanta Dream season|Atlanta]. They finished the month 2–1 with defeats of Washington and San Antonio. They went into the Olympic break with a 79–77 loss against Chicago. They went 3–5 in July and had a 10–14 record going into the Olympic break. The team came back from the break and went 3–0 in August, defeating Dallas, Los Angeles, and Indiana, with only the Los Angeles victory coming by less than double digits. They followed those three wins with three losses to start September. They turned their fortunes around to finish the month, going 3–1, with defeats of Atlanta, Seattle, and San Antonio. They finished September with a 3–4 record and a 16–18 overall record.
The Mercury finished tied for third in the Western Conference. They lost the tiebreaker against Seattle, as the season series finished 2–1 in the Storm's favor. This resulted in the Mercury being the eighth, and final seed, in the WNBA playoffs. As the eighth seed, their First Round match was on the road against the fifth seed, Indiana. The Mercury prevailed 89–78 behind a twenty-point performance from Diana Taurasi. Taurasi turned in a thirty-point performance in the Second Round against the New York Liberty. The game was within two points in the fourth quarter, but a late surge saw the Mercury pull away and win 101–94. The Mercury advanced to the semifinals to face the top seed Minnesota Lynx. The Lynx would go on to sweep the Mercury three games to zero. Game two was the closest of the three games, with the Mercury losing 96–86. Brittney Griner lead the league in blocks, and she was selected to the all-defensive second team. Taurasi was selected to the All-WNBA Second Team.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	8	Courtney Williams		South Florida
2	20	Jillian Alleyne		Oregon
3	32	Nirra Fields		UCLA

Roster

Source:

Statistics

Regular season

Source:

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
DeWanna Bonner	34	24	31.3	42.4%	32.9%	79.8%	5.4	2.4	1.3	0.6	14.5
Diana Taurasi	33	33	29.8	39.6%	35.0%	90.9%	3.0	3.9	0.9	0.1	17.8
Brittney Griner	34	34	29.2	54.8%	—	83.1%	6.5	1.0	0.4	3.1	14.5
Candice Dupree	32	32	29.1	54.1%	0.0%	79.2%	5.3	1.9	0.8	0.2	11.3
Penny Taylor	25	25	25.7	48.8%	39.6%	90.7%	3.8	3.6	1.5	0.4	12.5
Marta Xargay	15	6	19.7	40.0%	33.3%	70.6%	1.7	2.7	1.1	0.2	5.7
Lindsey Harding	21	0	15.7	37.0%	40.0%	87.0%	1.7	2.1	0.5	0.1	3.9
Sonja Petrović	31	13	14.8	42.1%	34.4%	95.7%	2.2	0.6	0.6	0.2	5.1
Mistie Bass	33	1	13.2	46.3%	—	81.5%	1.9	0.8	0.5	0.3	2.9
Noelle Quinn	13	0	9.9	24.1%	10.0%	85.7%	0.9	1.4	0.4	0.2	1.6
Kelsey Bone	20	0	9.7	38.8%	0.0%	70.0%	2.5	0.6	0.2	0.1	3.0
Alex Harden	28	1	7.5	45.0%	25.0%	50.0%	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.1	1.4
Isabelle Harrison	26	1	7.5	52.5%	—	68.0%	1.8	0.0	0.4	0.1	3.1
Nirra Fields	4	0	4.3	14.3%	0.0%	50.0%	—	—	—	—	0.8
Courtney Williams	6	0	4.2	11.1%	0.0%	50.0%	1.2	0.3	—	—	0.5

Playoffs

Source:

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Candice Dupree	5	5	31.4	48.8%	—	100.0%	3.8	1.8	0.6	0.2	9.6
Brittney Griner	5	5	31.2	64.3%	—	81.3%	6.0	1.6	0.6	2.2	13.4
Diana Taurasi	5	5	30.8	51.5%	43.2%	97.0%	2.6	2.8	0.2	0.6	23.6
Penny Taylor	5	5	26.0	36.8%	31.3%	95.8%	4.4	3.0	1.6	0.8	11.2
DeWanna Bonner	5	0	24.2	42.6%	0.0%	82.4%	4.2	1.6	1.0	0.0	10.8
Marta Xargay	5	5	24.2	44.4%	27.3%	80.0%	1.8	3.8	0.4	0.0	7.8
Isabelle Harrison	3	0	13.7	61.5%	—	0.0%	6.0	—	—	—	5.3
Sonja Petrović	2	0	12.5	44.4%	75.0%	0.0%	1.0	2.5	0.5	—	5.5
Lindsey Harding	5	0	9.2	46.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.4	1.4	—	0.2	2.4
Mistie Bass	5	0	7.8	33.3%	—	100.0%	1.4	0.8	0.2	—	1.6
Kelsey Bone	2	0	4.0	100.0%	—	—	0.5	—	—	—	2.0
Alex Harden	2	0	2.0	100.0%	100.0%	—	—	—	—	—	2.5