In perhaps the most shocking free-agent move in WNBA history, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner is joining the Atlanta Dream on a one-year contract. Griner successfully rehabilitated her value and returned to dominance after missing the entire 2022 season while being wrongfully detained in a Russian prison, and now she will join an up-and-coming Dream team that was a quick out in the WNBA playoffs over the past two seasons.
Griner’s exit came as a surprise, as she loved living and playing in Phoenix. Her decision to leave Arizona after more than a decade has prompted debate and questions over the Mercury‘s direction — especially with another franchise pillar, Diana Taurasi, inching toward retirement after a legendary 20-year-career.
Griner was no longer a fit for Phoenix
After the Mercury endured a disastrous 9-31 season in 2023, Phoenix improved to 19-21 under first-year head coach Nate Tibbetts in 2024. Tibbetts, a former assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, came to the Mercury with a vision to space the floor; he wants to play a “five out” system, in which all five players on the floor represent spacing and shooting threats from the perimeter.
Griner has never been known as a sharpshooter; she is among the most dominant low-post players in the history of women’s basketball, and has only 44 3-point attempts over 11 seasons.
“If you are looking to play five out, as Phoenix did for much of this past season, and is hell-bent on doing so in 2025, that is part of why Brittney Griner is on the free agent market,” WNBA analyst Howard Megdal explained.
The Mercury’s plan for 2025 became clearer on Tuesday when Phoenix acquired Alyssa Thomas in a blockbuster trade with the Connecticut Sun. Thomas, nicknamed “The Engine“, was a first-team All-WNBA selection in 2023 and 2024. She is a “point forward” who can facilitate an entire offense from the perimeter, and that type of player works best in a team where each player on the floor can shoot accurately and confidently from long range. Thomas’ fit with Griner might have “wrecked” Phoenix’s floor spacing, hence the sides’ decision to part ways on Tuesday.
Griner leaves the Mercury as one of the franchise’s greatest-ever players. A key cog in Phoenix’s 2014 WNBA championship team, Griner has scored the second-most points in Mercury history, only behind Taurasi; she is the franchise’s all-time leader in blocks and rebounds, and she has been selected to 10 All-Star teams while winning two Defensive Player of the Year awards.