Phoenix Mercury and Celeste Taylor agree to training camp deal
Reserved free agent guard Celeste Taylor signed a training camp contract with the Mercury.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury and Celeste Taylor agreed to a training camp deal.
Per the WNBA CBA, it is a one-year, non-guaranteed training camp contract for $66,079.
The contract will not count toward the Mercury’s salary cap unless Taylor makes the Mercury’s opening night roster.
This comes after the Mercury extended contract offers to four of their five reserved free agents on Jan. 16.
Taylor, Amy Atwell, Kiki Herbert Harrigan and Natasha Mack all received reserved qualifying offers. Mack accepted her offer on Jan. 17.
Originally drafted by the Indiana Fever at No. 15 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Taylor first joined the Mercury via a seven-day contract on July 12 after being waived by Indiana on June 25.
She finally found a place to call home on Sept. 6 when she signed a rest-of-season contract with the Mercury after three seven-day contracts with Phoenix and one with the Connecticut Sun.
In addition to playing for three different WNBA teams, Taylor played for three different colleges (Texas, Duke and Ohio State) and made a name for herself through her tenacious defense at each stop.
She was named 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year (Coaches) at Ohio State and the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year at Duke.
The point guard led the Mercury in +/- during the 2024 season at a +1.1, recording a zero or greater +/- in 11 of her 15 games.
Taylor played in 15 regular season games for the Mercury and made four starts in 2024. She averaged 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in 20.1 minutes per game.
Taylor averaged 2.5 points, 1.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 blocks in 14 minutes per game in two postseason games for Phoenix.