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This is part of a 12-team series of fantasy women’s basketball previews leading up to the 2022 WNBA season. For more information on ESPN’s newest fantasy game, check out how to play fantasy women’s basketball.
Head coach: Vanessa Nygaard (first season)
2021 record: 19-13
2021 offensive efficiency: (104.3, second in WNBA)
2021 defensive efficiency: (101.3, seventh)
2021 pace: (93.5, 11th)
Jump ahead: Offseason moves | Key stats | Top fantasy options | Sleeper
About the Mercury
Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith played together in 2020, so expectations were high for the Mercury to be a dangerous team in 2021. While their season didn’t start the way they had hoped, with consistency issues and injuries plaguing the team, the Mercury reached the Finals for the first time since 2014 and lost the series 3-1 to the Chicago Sky.
Earlier in the season, Taurasi missed a chunk of time and the team lost four games in a row during one stretch, including a 31-point defeat to the Minnesota Lynx. Things took a positive turn after that, as the Mercury went on a 10-game winning streak after the Olympic break with Taurasi back in the lineup and the team starting to jell when it mattered most.
The Mercury finished second in the league in offensive efficiency and became the No. 5 seed in the playoffs after a roller-coaster season. It was their ninth straight season advancing to the playoffs.
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Offseason moves
After parting ways with Sandy Brondello (who is the New York Liberty’s new head coach), Vanessa Nygaard was named Brondello’s successor in Phoenix. The Stanford standout played in the WNBA from 1999 to 2003. As a high school head coach, Nygaard guided Los Angeles’ Windward School to two state championships. She also served as an assistant at Division I colleges, with USA Basketball youth teams and in the WNBA with…
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Source : espn
