2013 Phoenix Mercury season explained

The 2013 WNBA season is the 17th season for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association.

There were high hopes for the Mercury after they drafted Brittney Griner first overall in the 2013 WNBA draft. However, the Mercury got off to a slow start, and ultimately fired coach Corey Gaines on August 8, 2013, replacing him with Russ Pennell. Amber Cox, the Mercury President and CEO, took over Gaines' GM duties.^[1] Pennell helped turn things around, securing the third seed in the 2013 WNBA Playoffs. The Mercury earned a spot in the Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Lynx.

Transactions

WNBA draft

The following are the Mercury's selections in the 2013 WNBA draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
1	1	Brittney Griner		Baylor
3	26	Nikki Greene		Penn State

Transaction log

February 8: re-signed Krystal Thomas and Lynetta Kizer.
March 7: signed Ify Ibekwe and Jalana Childs.
April 11: re-signed DeWanna Bonner.

Trades

Date	Trade
TBD	width=375	To Phoenix Mercury	width=375	To TBD
TBD	TBD	TBD

Personnel changes

Additions

Player	Signed	Former team
Brittney Griner	April 15, 2013	draft pick
Jasmine James	July 21, 2013	free agent

Subtractions

Player	Left	New team
Eddie Garner	Preseason	released
Samantha Prahalis	July 18, 2013^[2]	released

Roster

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Brittney Griner	Lynetta Kizer Krystal Thomas
PF	Candice Dupree	Charde Houston
SF	Penny Taylor	Jasmine James
SG	DeWanna Bonner	Briana Gilbreath
PG	Diana Taurasi	Alexis Hornbuckle

Schedule

Preseason

|- style="background:#cfc;" | 1 | May 19 | Japan | | Brittney Griner (18) | Dupree & Kizer (9) | Samantha Prahalis (8) | US Airways Center
4021 | 1 - 0

Regular season

|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 27 | Chicago | | Diana Taurasi (18) | Brittney Griner (8) | Samantha Prahalis (5) | US Airways Center
10200 | 0 - 1|- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | June 2 | @ Seattle | | Candice Dupree (18) | Brittney Griner (7) | Charde Houston (6) | Key Arena
9686 | 0 - 2|- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 | June 6 | @ Minnesota | | Diana Taurasi (21) | DeWanna Bonner (7) | Samantha Prahalis (5) | Target Center
8511 | 0 - 3|- style="background:#cfc;" | 4 | June 8 | @ Indiana | | Diana Taurasi (26) | DeWanna Bonner (11) | Bonner, Dupree, & Taurasi (5) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse
8672 | 1 - 3|- style="background:#cfc;" | 5 | June 14 | Los Angeles | | Diana Taurasi (34) | DeWanna Bonner (12) | Diana Taurasi (7) | US Airways Center
13065 | 2 - 3|- style="background:#cfc;" | 6 | June 16 | @ Tulsa | | Diana Taurasi (29) | Candice Dupree (10) | Diana Taurasi (9) | BOK Center
4206 | 3 - 3|- style="background:#fcc;" | 7 | June 19 | Minnesota | | Diana Taurasi (28) | Brittney Griner (7) | DeWanna Bonner (5) | US Airways Center
8464 | 3 - 4|- style="background:#cfc;" | 8 | June 21 | Washington | | Diana Taurasi (31) | DeWanna Bonner (9) | Diana Taurasi (5) | US Airways Center
9636 | 4 - 4|- style="background:#cfc;" | 9 | June 25 | @ San Antonio | | Brittney Griner (26) | Candice Dupree (12) | Diana Taurasi (8) | AT&T Center
9007 | 5 - 4|- style="background:#cfc;" | 10 | June 27 | @ Washington | | Diana Taurasi (26) | Candice Dupree (11) | Diana Taurasi (8) | Verizon Center
7950 | 6 - 4|- style="background:#cfc;" | 11 | June 29 | @ Connecticut | | Bonner & Taurasi (19) | DeWanna Bonner (8) | Diana Taurasi (5) | Mohegan Sun Arena
9110 | 7 - 4|- style="background:#cfc;" | 12 | July 2 | NY Liberty | | Bonner & Dupree (20) | Bonner & Dupree (7) | Diana Taurasi (10) | US Airways Center
7636 | 8 - 4|- style="background:#fcc;" | 13 | July 7 | @ Minnesota | | Candice Dupree (12) | Brittney Griner (11) | Diana Taurasi (7) | Target Center
9104 | 8 - 5|- style="background:#fcc;" | 14 | July 10 | San Antonio | | Candice Dupree (22) | Krystal Thomas (6) | Diana Taurasi (5) | US Airways Center
8707 | 8 - 6|- style="background:#fcc;" | 15 | July 14 | Los Angeles | | Diana Taurasi (23) | Candice Dupree (8) | Diana Taurasi (5) | US Airways Center
8233 | 8 - 7|- style="background:#cfc;" | 16 | July 18 | @ Los Angeles | | Diana Taurasi (32) | DeWanna Bonner (11) | Diana Taurasi (6) | Staples Center
11105 | 9 - 7|- style="background:#fcc;" | 17 | July 21 | Minnesota | | Diana Taurasi (26) | DeWanna Bonner (10) | Diana Taurasi (6) | US Airways Center
9806 | 9 - 8|- style="background:#fcc;" | 18 | July 24 | @ Minnesota | | Candice Dupree (17) | Krystal Thomas (10) | Alexis Hornbuckle (4) | Target Center
16404 | 9 - 9|- align="center"|colspan="9" bgcolor="#bbcaff"|All-Star Break|- style="background:#fcc;" | 19 | August 1 | @ Seattle | | DeWanna Bonner (19) | Candice Dupree (10) | DeWanna Bonner (7) | Key Arena
6457 | 9 - 10|- style="background:#cfc;" | 20 | August 3 | Atlanta | | Diana Taurasi (28) | DeWanna Bonner (6) | Bonner, Dupree, & Taurasi (4) | US Airways Center
8138 | 10 - 10|- style="background:#fcc;" | 21 | August 6 | Seattle | | Candice Dupree (18) | Candice Dupree (8) | Diana Taurasi (5) | US Airways Center
6877 | 10 - 11|- style="background:#cfc;" | 22 | August 9 | Tulsa | | Diana Taurasi (23) | Candice Dupree (9) | Taurasi & Hornbuckle (4) | US Airways Center
8547 | 11 - 11|- style="background:#cfc;" | 23 | August 11 | Tulsa | | DeWanna Bonner (21) | Candice Dupree (7) | Diana Taurasi (7) | US Airways Center
5972 | 12 - 11|- style="background:#cfc;" | 24 | August 14 | Indiana | | Candice Dupree (16) | Brittney Griner (8) | Diana Taurasi (11) | US Airways Center
6135 | 13 - 11|- style="background:#fcc;" | 25 | August 17 | @ San Antonio | | Diana Taurasi (23) | Briana Gilbreath (6) | Diana Taurasi (7) | AT&T Center
10906 | 13 - 12|- style="background:#cfc;" | 26 | August 20 | @ Tulsa | | Diana Taurasi (28) | Dupree & Griner (10) | Diana Taurasi (10) | BOK Center
4261 | 14 - 12|- style="background:#fcc;" | 27 | August 23 | Seattle | | DeWanna Bonner (20) | Bonner & Griner (5) | Diana Taurasi (7) | US Airways Center
8026 | 14 - 13|- style="background:#cfc;" | 28 | August 31 | Connecticut | | Bonner & Dupree (22) | Candice Dupree (9) | Diana Taurasi (8) | US Airways Center
8119 | 15 - 13|- style="background:#cfc;" | 29 | September 6 | San Antonio | | Diana Taurasi (21) | Brittney Griner (14) | Diana Taurasi (7) | US Airways Center
9006 | 16 - 13|- style="background:#cfc;" | 30 | September 8 | @ Atlanta | | Diana Taurasi (25) | Brittney Griner (11) | Diana Taurasi (6) | Philips Arena
9740 | 17 - 13|- style="background:#cfc;" | 31 | September 10 | @ NY Liberty | | Bonner & Dupree (18) | Dupree & Taurasi (6) | Diana Taurasi (9) | Prudential Center
8127 | 18 - 13|- style="background:#fcc;" | 32 | September 11 | @ Chicago | | Candice Dupree (15) | Dupree & Gilbreath (6) | Jasmine James (5) | Allstate Arena
6409 | 18 - 14|- style="background:#cfc;" | 33 | September 13 | San Antonio | | Diana Taurasi (20) | Krystal Thomas (8) | Diana Taurasi (10) | US Airways Center
8899 | 19 - 14|- style="background:#fcc;" | 34 | September 15 | @ Los Angeles | | Griner & James (9) | Krystal Thomas (8) | Jasmine James (4) | Staples Center
12311 | 19 - 15

Playoffs

|- style="background:#cfc;" | 1 | September 19 | @ Los Angeles | | Diana Taurasi (30) | Candice Dupree (7) | Diana Taurasi (7) | Staples Center
8500 | 1 - 0|- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | September 21 | Los Angeles | | Diana Taurasi (20) | Candice Dupree (9) | Diana Taurasi (5) | US Airways Center
11110 | 1 - 1|- style="background:#cfc;" | 3 | September 23 | @ Los Angeles | | Candice Dupree (22) | Bonner & Gilbreath (6) | Diana Taurasi (10) | Staples Center
9321 | 2 - 1|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | September 26 | @ Minnesota | | Diana Taurasi (15) | Brittney Griner (6) | Bonner & Dupree (3) | Target Center
9013 | 0 - 1|- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | September 29 | Minnesota | | Diana Taurasi (21) | Brittney Griner (10) | Diana Taurasi (6) | US Airways Center
8020 | 0 - 2

Statistics

Regular season

Notes and References

Web site: Mercury fire Corey Gaines . espn.go.com/ . Associated Press . August 9, 2013 . January 4, 2015.
Web site: Mercury Waive Samantha Prahalis . July 18, 2013 . January 5, 2015 . wnba.com . WNBA.