# 2008 Phoenix Mercury season

The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th for the Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury were not able to win their second consecutive WNBA Championship and became the first defending champion to not qualify for the playoffs.

## Offseason

On September 27, 2007, head coach Paul Westhead resigned and took a job as an assistant coach under P.J. Carlesimo for the Seattle SuperSonics. Assistant coach Corey Gaines was named the team's new head coach on November 7 of that year.

### Expansion draft

* Jennifer Lacy was selected in the 2008 Expansion Draft for the Atlanta Dream.

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School |
| 1 | 13 | LaToya Pringle | United States | North Carolina |
| 2 | 25 (from SA) | Leilani Mitchell | United States | Utah |
| 3 | 41 | Marscilla Packer | United States | Ohio State |

## Transactions
### Trades

| April 22, 2008 | To Phoenix Mercury New York's third-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft | To New York Liberty Leilani Mitchell |

### Free agents

| Player | Signed | Former team |
| Le'Coe Willingham | March 10, 2008 | Connecticut Sun |
| Barbara Farris | March 14, 2008 | New York Liberty |
| Olympia Scott | August 7, 2008 | Los Angeles Sparks |
| Player | Left | New team |
| Player | Re-signed |
| Kelly Mazzante | February 20, 2008 |
| Tangela Smith | March 11, 2008 |
| Diana Taurasi | March 20, 2008 |
| Jennifer Derejanik | April 3, 2008 |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| San Antonio Silver Stars $^x$ | 24 | 10 | .706 | – | 15–2 | 9–8 | 10–10 |
| Seattle Storm $^x$ | 22 | 12 | .647 | 2.0 | 16–1 | 6–11 | 13–7 |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 20 | 14 | .588 | 4.0 | 12–5 | 8–9 | 12–8 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 6.0 | 5–12 | 13–4 | 9–11 |
| Houston Comets $^o$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 7.0 | 13–4 | 4–13 | 10–10 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 8–12 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 9–8 | 7–10 | 8–12 |

### Season schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Leading Scorer | Attendance | Record |
| May 17 | vs. Los Angeles | 94-99 | Cappie Pondexter (32) | 13,749 | 0-1 |
| May 20 | @ San Antonio | 76-81 | Cappie Pondexter (23) | 9,103 | 0-2 |
| May 22 | vs. Seattle | 83-87 | Diana Taurasi (23) | 7,059 | 0-3 |
| May 31 | @ Minnesota | 83-94 | Cappie Pondexter (31) | 6,914 | 0-4 |
| June 3 | vs. Washington | 98-93 | Diana Taurasi (29) | 7,561 | 1-4 |
| June 6 | @ Los Angeles | 85-79 | Diana Taurasi (29) | 13,142 | 2-4 |
| June 11 | @ Seattle | 77-83 | Diana Taurasi (37) | 7,483 | 2-5 |
| June 14 | vs. Detroit | 79-89 | Cappie Pondexter (28) | 7,696 | 2-6 |
| June 18 | vs. Connecticut | 102-81 | Diana Taurasi (32) | 4,478 | 3-6 |
| June 20 | vs. Chicago | 112-105 (OT) | Diana Taurasi (33) | 7,311 | 4-6 |
| June 22 | @ New York | 72-105 | Diana Taurasi (21) | 8,688 | 4-7 |
| June 24 | @ Washington | 98-90 | Diana Taurasi (31) | 6,662 | 5-7 |
| June 26 | @ Chicago | 89-79 | Kelly Miller (17) | 3,103 | 6-7 |
| June 29 | @ Connecticut | 87-80 | Diana Taurasi (25) | 9,518 | 7-7 |
| July 1 | @ Atlanta | 97-79 | Diana Taurasi (28) | 9,795 | 8-7 |
| July 5 | vs. New York | 83-93 | Diana Taurasi (25) | 6,481 | 8-8 |
| July 6 | @ Los Angeles | 80-91 | Kelly Miller (14) Cappie Pondexter (14) | 10,004 | 8-9 |
| July 8 | vs. Houston | 99-94 | Diana Taurasi (30) | 15,499 | 9-9 |
| July 10 | @ Seattle | 78-89 | Cappie Pondexter (20) | 10,454 | 9-10 |
| July 12 | @ Sacramento | 97-105 | Cappie Pondexter (33) | 7,044 | 9-11 |
| July 15 | vs. San Antonio | 87-97 | Diana Taurasi (23) Cappie Pondexter (23) | 6,451 | 9-12 |
| July 17 | vs. Los Angeles | 99-92 | Cappie Pondexter (27) | 7,981 | 10-12 |
| July 19 | vs. Atlanta | 110-84 | Diana Taurasi (21) | 7,913 | 11-12 |
| July 22 | @ Houston | 92-94 | Diana Taurasi (31) | 6,134 | 11-13 |
| July 24 | @ Sacramento | 74-83 | Cappie Pondexter (23) | 11,946 | 11-14 |
| July 25 | vs. Seattle | 94-80 | Diana Taurasi (31) | 8,323 | 12-14 |
| July 27 | vs. Indiana | 84-88 | Diana Taurassi (25) | 7,924 | 12-15 |
| August 28 | vs. San Antonio | 55-77 | Diana Taurasi (13) | 7,931 | 12-16 |
| September 3 | vs. Minnesota | 103-96 | Diana Taurasi (32) | 7,722 | 13-16 |
| September 5 | vs. Sacramento | 81-69 | Diana Taurasi (26) | 10,527 | 14-16 |
| September 7 | vs. Houston | 99-74 | Diana Taurasi (33) | 10,261 | 15-16 |
| September 9 | @ Detroit | 78-89 | Cappie Pondexter (23) | 7,495 | 15-17 |
| September 12 | @ Minnesota | 96-87 | Diana Taurasi (31) | 8,343 | 16-17 |
| September 14 | @ Indiana | 89-103 | Cappie Pondexter (23) | 8,776 | 16-18 |

## Player stats
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Diana Taurasi | 34 | 34 | 31.9 | .446 | .360 | .870 | 5.1 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 24.1 |
| Cappie Pondexter | 32 | 32 | 31.3 | .413 | .313 | .846 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 21.2 |
| Tangela Smith | 25 | 25 | 28.9 | .417 | .348 | .867 | 7.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 11.1 |
| Le'Coe Willingham | 34 | 27 | 24.5 | .570 | .185 | .741 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 10.1 |
| Kelly Miller | 34 | 34 | 27.8 | .408 | .385 | .845 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 8.3 |
| Kelly Mazzante | 34 | 2 | 18.9 | .332 | .331 | .833 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 5.8 |
| LaToya Pringle | 29 | 7 | 13.0 | .448 | .000 | .824 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 4.4 |
| Barbara Farris | 34 | 8 | 16.3 | .463 | .000 | .698 | 3.8 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 3.5 |
| Olympia Scott | 6 | 0 | 11.5 | .364 | .000 | .000 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.7 |
| Yuko Oga | 23 | 0 | 7.3 | .351 | .000 | .941 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| Allie Quigley | 14 | 0 | 7.1 | .333 | .182 | .500 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Willnett Crockett | 5 | 1 | 8.2 | .375 | .000 | .600 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
| Jennifer Derevjanik | 17 | 0 | 8.5 | .263 | .125 | .750 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
Phoenix Mercury Regular Season Stats

## Awards and honors

* Diana Taurasi, WNBA Player of the Week (June 2–8, June 16–22, June 23–29, and September 1–7)
* Cappie Pondexter, WNBA Player of the Week (July 14–20)
* Diana Taurasi, WNBA Peak Performers (Points)
* Diana Taurasi, All-WNBA First Team