The word “legend” or “legendary” is thrown around too much in sports, especially in the WNBA. However, it seems that Phoenix Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren might be in that category, at least according to the man who was hired by him, Nate Tibbetts.
“He’s a legend in Phoenix,” he explained pregame via Conrado Pascual of The Podium Finish on X (formerly Twitter). “Nick is a special person first. “We kind of walked into a unique situation, or he did when he got the job of, you know, this was…when he took over the team, this was one of the worst-record teams in the league.
“We had a high draft pick in the number three pick, we ended up trading to go get Kahleah (Copper). And so we haven’t really had any high draft picks, and so our route to get better was obviously finding stars. But like, you need stars to win, but you’ve got to have great role players.”
In only his third full season, he’s landed star players while doing his due diligence overseas and snatching up key pieces. Although U’Ren had concerns about the Mercury’s offseason due to the uncertain CBA, he made the most of it.
Once again, players like Valériane Ayayi, Kyara Linskens, and Jovana Nogic caught many by surprise. While they’ve had quality overseas careers, some have only had minuscule playing time in the WNBA.
They didn’t get much traction with fans at first, but U’Ren always had his eye on them. Building a team around stars and finding the right complementary pieces is certainly a skill that he has.
Rookies that aren’t really “rookies” seem to be Phoenix’s MO, but give credit to the general manager. He knows what to look for. So much so that his team went to the WNBA Finals and is looking to run it back.
The word “legend” or “legendary” is thrown around too much in sports, especially in the WNBA. However, it seems that Phoenix Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren might be in that category, at least according to the man who was hired by him, Nate Tibbetts.