4 Phoenix Mercury players reflect on what it means to represent their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics
4 Phoenix Mercury players reflect on what it means to represent their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Team USA will include three Mercury players, led by Diana Taurasi, while Bec Allen will represent Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Four Phoenix Mercury players will represent their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Kahleah Copper will all play for Team USA, while Bec Allen will suit up for Australia.
The United States is looking to win its eighth straight, and 10th overall, Olympic gold medal.
The USA Women’s National Team will hold its training camp in Phoenix before playing the WNBA All-Stars in the All-Star Game on Saturday, July 20.
The United States will subsequently travel to London to play the German Women’s National Team at the O2 Arena on July 23 before flying to France.
The women’s basketball competition at the Olympics starts on July 28 and the final is on Aug. 11.
Team USA will open group play in Lille against Japan on July 29, followed by games against Belgium on Aug. 1 and Germany on Aug. 4.
Australia will open group play in Lille against Nigeria on July 29, followed by games against Canada on Aug. 1 and France on Aug. 4.
Desert Wave Media spoke to all four Olympians and the Mercury players shared their thoughts on what it means to play for their country on the biggest stage.
Bec Allen
Mercury guard/forward Bec Allen will also be representing her nation at the Paris Olympics. The Melbourne native will once again be playing for Australia at the Summer Games.
“I mean it’s huge,” Allen said about what playing for Australia means to her. “For me it’s also hearing the national anthem, I don’t hear it a lot. So when I’m there and it’s playing, it always feels different. But there’s no feeling like wearing the Opals’ colors, the green and gold, being out there with my sisters in that sense so it’s really beautiful.”
Allen’s Australia lost to Team USA in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. In the elimination game, Allen shot 1-for-10 from the field and had three turnovers.
“And I can talk about it even on a personal level I just want to come to this one and enjoy it,” Allen said. “Tokyo was really hard to enjoy. There were just so many factors, even COVID being the main one. So it wasn’t a real Olympics, so for me to have my family in the stands, it’s going to be really big.”
Allen believes her new mindset and experience will help her in Paris after a rough outing in Tokyo and after playing through several serious injuries at the 2022 World Cup.
During the 2022 World Cup, Allen suffered two fractured ribs and a partially collapsed lung during Australia’s group-play win against Serbia. Allen left the court on a wheelchair and was treated by paramedics. She returned and played in the quarterfinals against Serbia and in the semifinals against China.
“I think it’s just from a mental perspective as well like I felt that I got really overwhelmed within the first Olympics there was just for a number of reasons,” Allen said. “So I think now it’s being able to be calmer. Being a calm presence, being a calm teammate. So that’s my big thing is that I really worked on that before the (World Cup) and I felt that I did a really good job of that until my injury. And I’ve sort of built that into every season since, so that’s what I really think is the mental side has been huge for me.”
The United States and Australia are in different groups, so while a showdown between Taurasi, Griner, Copper and Allen is not guaranteed, the idea is something Allen is looking forward.
“Oh, I hope so and I know it’ll be (Taurasi),” Allen said about the potential matchup. “She’ll say that she knows all the plays as well and I think she does. It’ll be fun.”
“I think that playing in this league for a while, you also make a lot of friendships within the other team,” Allen continued. “It’s always fun when you go to your national teams, and people play a different role there as well. It’s fun seeing people thrive within those environments.”
Allen has represented Australia at the senior level since 2014 and won bronze medals at the 2022 and 2014 FIBA World Cups and a silver medal in the 2018 FIBA World Cup.
“It’s just gonna be really nice to have this group because it’s been a continuity from every single thing so we’ve shown from the last World Cup how we are as a group and the different style we play and just to keep building on that, so for me the enjoyment factor is just going to be huge.”
Allen began her professional career by playing in Australia’s WNBL (Women’s National Basketball League) at the age of 16. In February 2015, she signed with the Liberty as a free agent and spent the first seven years of her WNBA career in New York.
“It was honestly America which really tested me,” Allen said. “So I thought I came into this league thinking I was a great defender and I was really put in my place. So I had to work my first I want to say three-fours years really hard to become a defensive player as well because otherwise you’re playing against some of the most athletic, the strongest players as well, so I had to really work on that here in particular.”
After Allen spent one season in Connecticut, the Mercury acquired Allen in a sign-and-trade deal with the Sun in February. The Mercury dealt guard Moriah Jefferson to Connecticut in return.
In her first season with the Mercury, Allen is averaging 6.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists over seven games played.
Allen missed five games after suffering a head injury in the Mercury’s 107-92 loss to the Dallas Wings on May 25.
Kahleah Copper
Copper is enjoying a stellar season with the Mercury. But she made it clear in a tearful speech on her career that nothing was easy in her journey to this moment.
“Y’all don’t see what it takes,” said Copper, whose Olympic selection is her first. “You prepare so long for this.”
Copper joined the Mercury via trade for the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft. Instead of chasing one of the new superstars in this new influx of WNBA talent, the Mercury opted for experience with hopes of chasing another championship with Taurasi, who is in the final year of her contract.
The former 2021 WNBA Finals MVP has impressed. Copper hit a game-winner against the Minnesota Lynx June 7, taking the shot instead of Taurasi.
“I have so much respect for her for that,” Copper said.
Both Griner and Taurasi spoke highly about Copper’s impact.
“She’s an amazing person,” Griner said. “…She’s going to give you [100%] no matter what.”
Added Taurasi: “You look at her now, it’s just an incredible story. She gets all the credit for that. That first Olympics, there’s nothing like it. When you put that jersey on, get to the Olympics, opening ceremonies. There’s just such a grateful feeling, such an honor to be a part of the Olympics and USA delegation.”
With a team that includes A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and other top-tier scorers, Copper’s scoring may dip with Team USA. But it is very clear her season with the Mercury has earned her this recognition.
“I think it was important,” Copper said of the importance of playing with the Mercury and earning her selection. “I think for me coming into a franchise at this time in my career where I’m just so well-taken care of and I only have to worry about being the best version of myself on the court, it couldn’t have timed up (more) perfectly.
“To be a part of a franchise with winning history and players that buy into a culture and what we want to do…You can see it from what I’m doing on the court, what kind of place I am physically and mentally.”
Brittney Griner
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner will also be representing Team USA at the Paris Olympics. The Phoenix Mercury center and nine-time All-Star is one of only three active players with multiple Olympic gold medals – Taurasi (five) and Breanna Stewart (two) – after winning gold in Tokyo (2020) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
“It feels great,” Griner said about her selection to Team USA. “A lot of exciting things happening right now. Got our first one on the way. Back on court. Just a lot of good things happening in my life right now and I’m really happy playing for more than just Phoenix Mercury, for my hometown, playing for my little one on the way and trying to make him proud.”
Griner and Cherelle (her wife) will be welcoming their first child together in July. The United States’ first game of the Olympics is on July 29 against Japan.
“You know it’s not in my hands, it’s in God’s hand, Griner said about the timing. “I mean everything will happen that needs to happen. I’ve learned to not stress over things, just roll with it and yeah we’ll make it work. We’ll figure it all out.”
Griner’s played in just two games this season and missed nearly a month after fracturing a toe on her left foot. Griner has averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 blocks this season.
She averaged 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31 games last season. In March, she re-signed with the Mercury, the only WNBA team she’s played for.
During the Tokyo Olympics, Griner started all six games and led the team with 16.5 points per game (along with A’ja Wilson). She also averaged 7.3 rebounds per game. In the gold medal game against Japan, Griner scored 30 points, becoming just the second player in USA Women's National Team history to score 30 points in an Olympic game (Lisa Leslie).
"You're representing your country, you're on the highest stage, it doesn't get any higher than that," Griner said Sunday. "And anytime we get to put on the red, white and blue - USA across our chest - we know we're going to get every country's best shot.
“So it's just a different level of play, it's just a different level of intensity and practice. And I mean you're just playing for so much more. I can't wait to go." I can’t wait that my teammate gonna be with me yo hey.”
Griner is also excited to be playing alongside Diana Taurasi and Kahleah Copper. The 2024 Olympics will be the second consecutive Summer Games that the Mercury have three players on Team USA (Taurasi, Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith represented the United States at the 2020 Olympic Tokyo Games).
In addition, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and forward Kevin Durant are members of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team. The Paris games will be the first time one city’s NBA and WNBA teams have combined for at least five players named to the USA Basketball national teams at a single Olympic Games.
“That means everything,” Griner said. “Credit to the Phoenix Mercury. I guess we got something special here in the Valley. Must be in the water. But I’m just super happy I get to share this experience with two of my teammates … It’s just a different beast when you put on that USA jersey and especially when you see two of your teammates with you too putting on that jersey. Definitely going to cherish this time, this moment, lucky to be here and I hope everybody in the Valley tunes in. They better.”
While Griner, Taurasi, Booker and Durant all have Olympic experience, Copper will be making her Olympic debut in Paris.
“I got to know (Copper) even more now,playing with her being her teammate. She’s an amazing person," Griner said. "She really rallies for you on and off the court. She’s going to give you 100 no matter what. She’s going to show up and work hard, and that just goes to her character and who she is. I’m just super excited for her and for it to be her first one. I get to go with two of my teammates to Team USA.”
The Paris Olympics will mark the first time Griner will play internationally after turning home following her Russian detainment.
Griner spent 294 days incarcerated in Russia after she was detained on Feb. 17, 2022 when authorities found cannabis oil in her luggage.
The 33-year-old was later sentenced to nine years in prison under drug-smuggling charges. She was released on Dec. 8, 2022 and made her competitive return to the WNBA on May 19, 2023.
“We always make sure that we have the appropriate security measures for our Olympic team, USA Basketball Women's National Team director Briana Weiss told Desert Wave Media. “Those discussions have long been going on to ensure that obviously (Griner) but the entire team delegation feel safe and secure while with us as we head off to obviously Phoenix, London and then on to Paris.”
Diana Taurasi
The Phoenix Mercury are one of two teams to have at least three representatives for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Taurasi, who is regarded as the best women’s player ever, was selected to represent the U.S.A. for a record sixth time.
“Going into my sixth, I don’t have any words to really describe it,” Taurasi said. “It’s humbling, it’s an honor and I’m excited to go and get the journey started.”
Taurasi’s overall play cannot be understated, even though she is 42 years old and entering the final stretch of her magnificent, storied career.
Even though Taurasi is playing next to Copper, who is the third-leading scorer in the W, and Griner, who is still regarded as a top-10 player to some, she is averaging 16.6 points. She is also the only player in the WNBA to have two games with seven or more 3-pointers in 2024.
“The way she’s been doing it, she’s going to beat or she’s going to be setting different kind of records…” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “...She’s addicted to this, she loves this.”
The Mercury star in the team’s 97-90, double-overtime win over the Dallas Wings on Sunday tied Michael Jordan for the most 20-point games (20) by a player at 40 years old or above.
Taurasi is expected to be a veteran leader given she is regarded as the greatest women’s player ever. She is also perhaps on the brink of playing in her last Olympics.
Desert Wave Media asked Taurasi about the significance of these United States men’s and women’s teams because LeBron James, perhaps the greatest men’s player ever, could also be playing in his last Olympic Games.
“It’s two big-time rosters,” said Taurasi.
“That’s probably the coolest thing and the most humbling thing is being around these world-class athletes who worked their whole lives for one race, for 10 seconds, for a minute. It’s a humbling experience and that’s why I think when you’re a part of it, you never take it for granted.”
The Mercury star is yet to finish without a gold medal in the Olympics.
In her Olympic career, Taurasi is shooting 44.8 percent from 3-point range while averaging 10.9 points. She is expected to be a role model for an upcoming women’s basketball tide that is turning in immense ratings for the league.
Team USA women’s roster for the Paris Olympics
Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury)
Kahleah Copper (Phoenix Mercury)
Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty)
Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty)
Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun)
Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx)
Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces)
Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces)
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